"We cannot afford not to simplify," the force told IT suppliers present at the event.

An agreement would see the provision of cloud computing services and applications, maintenance services and the appropriate middleware, it is understood.

"By 2014 to 2015, the Metropolitan Police Service needs to reduce spending by £600 million, compared to 2010 to 2011. To assist in this reduction, a number of change programmes are underway, focusing on reducing costs," the Metropolitan Police told suppliers.

"The Strategic Cloud Programme is looking to deliver a Next-Generation Cloud based replacement for current legacy MPS applications, focusing particularly on the high volume front end operational policing systems."