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HM Revenue & Customs

An IT Outsourcing Success

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC)Aspiring to meet external challenges 

The UK’s HMRC service gathers £230 billion in taxes and processes approximately 9 million Self Assessment returns annually. The service has direct links to the 32 million people employed in the UK. In tendering the renewal of its IT contract, a key aim was the transformation of its operations to meet three significant external challenges: modernising government, welfare reform and eGovernment.

The HMRC’s Aspire (Acquiring Strategic Partners for the Inland REvenue) procurement was about finding a technology and business partner to work in transforming the delivery of its services. Worth at least £3 billion (€4.3 billion), the contract - the biggest in IT history - is for an initial ten years, with the possibility of an eight-year extension. Capgemini will be the prime contractor and its key partners, Fujitsu Services and British Telecom, have been involved from the beginning.

Transformation and Innovation

John Yard, Chief Information Officer of HMRC explains, “We not only wanted efficiency, we wanted a transformation of the way that government business is performed. That involves making much more use of information technology and being much more organised and innovative in the way that data is gathered for the benefit of individuals.” The selection criteria included the potential for strategic partnership, the ability to deliver the HMRC’s service requirements, the ability to innovate and deliver technology- enabled change and the ability to manage the transition from the incumbent. After a lengthy bid process HMRC announced Capgemini as its new technology partner on December 11, 2003.

Ecosystem makes the difference

Our ecosystem concept and our collaborative ability proved decisive. Regarding the ecosystem, Martin Cook, who led the bid, says, “Their new partner had to have a real understanding of how to make the partnership work and how to capitalise on this to facilitate innovation. They also had to be highly effective at acting as a window on the technology world, giving the client early access to the best of new technology.” John Yard concurs: “What we do is so difficult in terms of IT delivery that you have to get the best you can from wherever you can get it. Your theme of collaboration with clients really resonates with me.”

Scope and potential
The scope of the Aspire contract includes delivering and developing IT/IS and voice services, change services and business services related to IT/IS and voice services. These will support HMRC’s present and anticipated business, including the development of e-business. The contract is sufficiently flexible to accommodate future needs. Some 2,200 employees have joined Capgemini from the outgoing incumbents. Beyond its value, scope and growth potential, winning Aspire places Capgemini firmly in the first rank of IT companies and at the heart of the UK Government’s transformation program for the next ten years.