HMRC exits its £10 billion IT contract

by Susie Hughes at 16:09 30/03/16 (News on Business)

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has announced that it has reached a final agreement with its major IT suppliers on the phased exit of the £10 billion Aspire IT contract, which ends in 2017.

Under the agreement reached with Capgemini and Fujitsu, HMRC will complete the phased exit from a single, overarching IT contract, by breaking it into to a series of smaller, more flexible contracts with existing and new suppliers, and expects that the contracts will be of interest to smaller and medium-sized companies, as well as the larger providers. Advertisement Starting next month (April 2016), HMRC will be going to market for a number of IT services. HMRC says that this approach of smaller, more flexible contracts with multiple suppliers will enable HMRC to deliver 'a ground-breaking digital strategy by taking advantage of emerging technologies such as open-source software and cloud services. This will provide better value for money for taxpayers, while ensuring that HMRC’s systems remain safe, secure and reliable as they continue to process more than £500 billion of annual tax revenues.' HMRC is also bringing some existing IT services and staff in-house before the end of the contract in 2017, which will provide stability during the phased exit from Aspire. HMRC expects to save around 24 per cent (£200 million) a year by 2020-21 on the provision of like-for-like IT services, against a £854 million total IT spend in 2014-15. Transformation HMRC will also be investing an additional £1.3 billion over five years in its transformation programme, to make it quicker and easier for the majority of individuals and businesses to manage their tax affairs online. This additional investment was provided for in the 2015 Spending Review. Lin Homer, HMRC’s Chief Executive, said: “HMRC’s ambition is to be one of the most digitally-advanced tax authorities in the world, and the agreement we have reached to exit the Aspire contract brings that a huge step closer. "Our new approach enables HMRC to secure the adaptable, cutting-edge IT services we need to transform our services to customers and modernise the way we work, at much better value for money for the taxpayer.” Tweet -- If you wish to comment on this article, please log in and use the Reply button below. Registering is free and easy - see 'Join Shout99'. - Susie Hughes © Shout99 2016

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