The Home Office has decided to follow the trend of local government by driving a harder bargain on its IT contracts. Current contracts between the department and its two major IT suppliers have been extended – saving the taxpayer more than £100m over six years. Atos Origin and Fujitsu – the latter being a big supplier to local government – will provide IT services to 24,000 users across the Home Office and UK Border Agency. The £430m agreements will reshape current services to deliver significant improvements between now and the end of the contracts in 2016 – cutting IT costs by around one-quarter. Other improvements include delivering a more efficient service to staff, enabling greater mobility and flexibility; making systems more reliable and responsive; and helping bring the Home Office in line with the Government's wider strategy for information systems and technology. Helen Kilpatrick, Home Office financial and commercial director general, said: ‘The extended contracts are a great achievement, which will help the Home Office improve the service we provide to the public. By working collaboratively with Atos Origin and Fujitsu from the outset, we have been able to re-engineer the existing contracts in record time.'