Kainos awarded up to £150m contract to support Defra’s digital-first ambitions

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Date posted
26 May 2026
Reading time
5 minutes

Kainos has been awarded up to a £150 million contract with the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) to support digital delivery and transformation across the organisation, further accelerating its transition to digital-first public services.  

The contract forms part of Defra’s Application, Development, Maintenance and Support (ADMS Plus) procurement and will run for an initial four-year period, with the option to extend for a further year.  

Under the agreement, Kainos, a leading UK digital, data, and AI supplier to Public Sector, Defence, and Healthcare, will provide application development and maintenance support capability for a broad range of digital initiatives across Defra and its arm’s length bodies, and will be supported by a UK sovereign partner ecosystem including TPXimpact and Envitia. The contract is structured for accelerated AI-enabled delivery across the full digital application lifecycle, supporting Defra as it continues to modernise its services and technology estate. 

As part of the ADMS Plus contract, Kainos will contribute expertise spanning DevOps, digital transformation, build and transition, end-to-end development, and data management, helping Defra deliver services more effectively to citizens and stakeholders and address its legacy technology debt.  

The contract will support Defra’s wider mission to protect and enhance the environment and improve outcomes for communities, with digital playing a central role in enabling more efficient, responsive and resilient public services. The approach reflects the scale and breadth of Defra’s remit, overseeing everything from EU Reset, water regulation, flood risk management, biosecurity, and wildlife conservation.

Commenting on the award, Daniel Kemp, Digital Services Director, Kainos, said:

“We are delighted to have been appointed to the Defra ADMS Plus contract and to be partnering with Defra to deliver high-impact digital services that restore nature, support growth and enhance security. We are proud of our 12-year history working together to deliver critical programmes such as EU Exit, Border Target Operating Model and digital inspection systems to protect biosecurity, and we are looking forward to contributing to the protection of our natural resources moving forward.”

About the contract 

  • Customer: Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra)
  • Contract value: Up to £150 million  
  • Contract term: Four years, with an option to extend for one additional year 
  • Scope: Application Development and Managed Services (ADMS Plus), supporting delivery across the digital application lifecycle 

About Kainos Group plc 

Kainos Group plc is a UK-headquartered provider of sophisticated IT services to major public sector, commercial, defence, and healthcare customers and a developer of software applications. Our shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE: KNOS). 

Our expertise spans three divisions: Digital Services, Workday Services, and Workday Products. 

Kainos Digital Services in the Public Sector 

Kainos is trusted to deliver the UK government’s biggest digital programmes, transforming the way users engage with government, addressing legacy migration, unlocking the value of AI, data, and analytics, and creating digital capacity in government through upskilling and enablement. To date, 60 million citizens have been positively impacted by award-winning services built by Kainos for the UK government.