With all government departments having to deliver value for public money, tax agencies in particular must manage their operations and customer contact efficiently and cost-effectively. That’s the premise of the partnership between Capgemini and HMRC – and in a tough economic climate, it’s never been more relevant.

As prime contractor for Aspire, Capgemini manages core subcontractor partners and an ecosystem of hardware, software and IT service suppliers. With this in place our priority is to deliver value for money IT that supports HMRC’s business priorities.

HMRC administers the UK’s tax system, and in 2008-09 the department collected £435 billion in revenue and made payments to over 7 million families. The scale of its IT infrastructure is as large and as complex as many global companies - at any one time, there are typically 200 projects underway.

The 4,000 Capgemini and partner staff working on Aspire are responsible for 100,000 desktops, laptops and printers, 9,000 servers and an average of 12 business critical system changes a year.

In 2009, HMRC received 8 awards for projects delivered in collaboration with Capgemini, including overall winner of the Guardian Computing Excellence in Public Sector IT Awards.

This section contains:

• What’s it like to work for Capgemini Aspire?
• Capgemini Aspire capabilities
• Capgemini Aspire teams
• Finding your role in Capgemini

What’s it like to work for Capgemini Aspire?

Are you looking to develop a broad range of experience and skills, working alongside people from a variety of disciplines? Would you like to gain exposure to different potential career routes, from testing to architecture and project management?

If so, Capgemini’s Aspire partnership has a lot to offer you.

The complexity and size of the Aspire contract means that it draws on all the different aspects of our business. In some ways, it’s like having the whole of Capgemini in one place, with consulting, technology and outsourcing services all coming together under one roof.

The Aspire team is responsible for the world’s busiest tax website, which handles over 10 tax returns a second during peak times for online filing. Capgemini also helps ensure the right IT is in place to enable HMRC to implement new legislation, so there are always new projects and enhancements to existing systems underway within Aspire.

Ongoing efficiency gains and cost reduction are integral to the contract, which delivers year-on-year service improvement, and payment for projects focused on business value, not just for completing the work.

That means there is a wide variety of roles available within Aspire, and plenty of opportunities to build and develop new skills in one of the most innovative outsourcing environments around.

Capgemini’s continuous improvement and learning culture lies at the heart of how Aspire operates. We’re always looking to improve not only the performance of Aspire but also the working experience of our people, and we provide an average of 7 training days per person per year – amongst the best in the IT outsourcing industry.

Joining the Capgemini Aspire team gives you the chance to gain experience with one of our flagship clients. You may choose to develop your career within Aspire, or take your skills to another part of our global business.

Capgemini Aspire capabilities

Delivery excellence, combined with an in-depth understanding of business requirements, ensures HMRC has the IT required to support collection of tax and duties and payment of benefits. The technology-led consulting and IT services provided include:

• Application development expertise
• Systems integration
• Applications maintenance and support
• Desktop user services
• Disaster recovery
• Analysis and research

Capgemini is accountable for infrastructure, business process management, telecoms and WAN through the management of sub-contracts with Fujitsu and BT.

Capgemini Aspire teams

Aspire Cloud and Collaboration Service

This is a new team created to generate unique and creative ways for HMRC to use Cloud Computing. The Cloud team use Agile development techniques called Scrum and the latest Microsoft technologies to develop and host small applications.The use of these cutting-edge approaches and ideas is developed by the Cloud Technologies Centre of Excellence (CoE).

Management Information Service

The Management Information Services (MIS) area is one of the internal hub areas of Aspire, providing tools and infrastructure to measure effectiveness. It is involved in setting strategy and direction for the future and ensuring that we are equipped to deliver quality systems to HMRC.

Specialised Software Engineering

The Software Engineering Practice is an integral part of the software engineering lifecycle, providing both the design and development of quality applications. This area includes active involvement in all aspects of the software development lifecycle, from requirements to the implementation of a live solution.

Applications Management

Aspire Live Services (LS) is the area responsible for the support of HMRC’s IT systems. Applications Management is focussed on the live support of HMRC’s business applications, and entails planning, coding, testing and monitoring of IT systems.

Technical Governance

The role of Technical Governance is to maintain an overview of the whole Aspire contract across different architectures and technologies, analysing the potential issues to ensure there is no impact on the provision of a supportable live service

Methods and Tools

The Methods and Tools team are an operational group that consult with a wide variety of projects to advise and implement methods and tools on the projects. As well as providing expertise on technical skills including Java, SAP, Microsoft and Oracle, the team use cutting edge concepts including Agile methodologies.

Specialised Testing

The Testing Practice involves both the application of testing and quality assurance activities. Team members are actively involved in all aspects of the software development lifecycle from requirements to user acceptance.

Business Transformation

The Business Transformation team delivers business transformation expertise across all the Aspire operations.

Project Management Office Practice

The PMO Practice plays an integral role throughout the lifecycle of any project for the provision of management information to both the project management and programme management communities.

Finding your role in Capgemini

If you’d like to work with some incredibly talented people, you can search here for a role that matches your talents and ambitions.