HMRC spends over £1bn on tech contracts

Modernisation of digital services and upgrades to legacy infrastructure will transform the government department. 

Last week, HM Revenue & Customs (HRMC) announced a fourth major technology contract under the banner ‘digital platforms new build’ services, with Capgemini awarded a deal relating to the Making Tax Digital initiative. 

Coming into effect from 13th May, it is believed the contract is worth over £260million, made up  of £146.1million to cover an initial three-year term, and an additional £117million, available if the deal runs for another two years. This was awarded through the DALAS framework, a funding vehicle which has £3bn ringfenced for digital improvements. 

Capgemini has also been awarded a separate £250million deal through the same scheme, which will be used to update HMRC’s Multi-Channel Digital Tax Platform, which houses around 1,000 discrete services, including 100 public-facing applications.

Support and upgrades to the Customer Insight Platform, which collates data on millions of user interactions and transactions, and the outgoing Government Gateway infrastructure are also in the scope of this deal. The latter was introduced 23 years ago, but is now in the process of being replaced by the One Login tool.

Other HMRC online services tied to borders and trade, customer strategy and design, and customer support, have also seen large contracts handed out in recent months to firms including IBM, Netcompany, and Accenture. These are thought to be worth some £541.6million, bringing total departmental IT spend to £1.05billion in the past three weeks alone. 

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