Thread by @allthecitizens

🚨BREAKING: The MOD has released a new £6m contract with the US data giant, Palantir Technologies, *on the same day* the ICO ordered it to finally answer an @allthecitizens FOI. Could these two facts possibly be related🤔

A £5.9 million award to data behemoth, Palantir Technologies, for the ‘Provision of Data Integration Services’, has just been released on the government Contracts Finder website...

*more than 18 months after it was first awarded*

On Dec 1, the Ministry of Defence released details of a prior agreement between Palantir, the US data company owned by Peter Thiel, and the Royal Navy. The award was first issued on April 23, 2020, and ran until Oct 22, 2021.
contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/notice/a032c7f…

The contract states that it was released "for transparency purposes only", but redactions hide most details of what work was undertaken and what data was processed for what purposes.

The redactions fall under a Section 26 (defence) exemption.

This is what the MOD classes as “transparency”:

What is known is that the work was undertaken for the Royal Navy, as the buyer address is listed as HM Naval Base, Portsmouth.

While specific details of the work are unclear, some coincidences between this release and an ICO dispute between the Ministry of Defence and @allthecitizens could possibly shed some light on its general nature.

The contract started on April 23 last year, and @allthecitizens previously reported on a £4m spend on the firm by the Submarine Delivery Agency, dated during the same period.

https://twitter.com/allthecitizens/status/1365270230902198272?s=20

We first asked the MoD in March about the nature of the work in an FOI that was escalated to the ICO. The final response was due on December 1, the day of this award publication.

Additionally, the initial contract value matches the £4.01m spend we'd outlined previously.

However the contract has likely been extended, or run over cost, as the Contracts Finder notice states the higher amount of £6m, and new digital spend records cites an even higher £8.18m:

In September, @allthecitizens reported an increase on previous known work between Palantir and the MoD of £53m, bringing the total known value of contracts awarded to them to £104m, which likely includes this newly released award.

https://twitter.com/allthecitizens/status/1438899565210611720?s=20

Palantir are known to undertake work extensively with the Defence and Intelligence communities, and around half of the total value of work they’ve received in the UK has come from the Ministry of Defence.

https://twitter.com/allthecitizens/status/1365270217241358340?s=20

The firm have engaged in controversial operations both at home and abroad within the forces, including stepping in when Google backed away from the controversial Project Maven, citing ethical concerns:
thenextweb.com/news/report-pa…

In the UK, they’ve similarly worked on autonomous weapons, providing a “search visualisation and analysis system” for the MoD, helping the Navy by providing analytics for staff retention, and another contract working with the now closed HMS Quorn.

https://twitter.com/allthecitizens/status/1365270226477199360?s=20

They’re also known to have collaborated early on with GCHQ, building tools to better enable the capabilities of the spy agency’s controversial mass surveillance programme, Tempora, and the comparable US initiative XKEYSCORE:
techcrunch.com/2017/02/22/pal…

Across the pond Palantir have also supported the Navy’s Operational Business Logistics Enterprise (NOBLE) System, streamlining and modernising its current legacy architecture.
businesswire.com/news/home/2020…

Never a stranger to controversy, the firm shot to notoriety in this country after securing a string of deals in 2020 to work within the NHS. Critics protested against a “spy tech” firm with such a dubious history getting access to valuable patient data.
opendemocracy.net/en/ournhs/the-…

Additionally, Palantir has Military connections among its staff. The head of UK Defence, Guy Williams, is a former Major, ex-Major Robert Chiswell advised them in 2018, and Lord Guthrie of Craigiebank, a crossbench peer who served, holds Palantir shares.
notechfortyrants.org/2020/10/22/who…

The Ministry of Defence and Palantir have been approached for comment.