Consultancy will support work to deliver Technology Sourcing Programme, which aims to revamp IT procurement
Credit: Government of Alberta/Public domain
HM Revenue and Customs has retained the support of Deloitte in a £15m deal through which the consultancy will help the department shape and deliver a major revamp of its technology and procurement.
The Technology Sourcing Programme is an ongoing project dedicated to managing the tax agency’s exit from a handful of large IT contracts and transforming how – and with whom – it spends an estimated total of £900m a year on tech. The aim is to work with a greater range of providers, including more SMEs, and further the adoption of new technologies, such as low-code platforms.
In a one-year deal that came into effect on 1 April, Deloitte will “will work closely with [TSP’s] senior responsible officer and programme director to define, orchestrate and integrate delivery across all workstreams, providing advisory input and advice on how to accelerate delivery if required”.
Freshly published commercial documents indicate that the firm will provide services in three main areas: support for programme delivery; detailed design for HMRC’s “future operating model”; and so-called ‘burst’ support for pressing tech integration requirements.
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Work undertaken by the consultancy over the coming months “will be in support of outputs to be delivered by [individual] workstreams, aligned to programme outcomes”.
“Outputs will be agreed monthly with the relevant workstream lead and, where required, the programme director,” the contract said. “Deloitte will report weekly to the relevant workstream lead on the progress of their activities, the status of their outputs and any risks [or] issues in delivery.”
The performance of the services firm will be reviewed weekly in meetings with the TSP programme director.
The deal, which is valued at £15m, runs until 31 March 2023 but the contract states that “HMRC may at its discretion decide to retain the support of Deloitte to assist with the implementation of the future operating model beyond the initial period”.
The new, one-year contract follows on directly from – and represents an effective extension of – two previous nine-month engagements through which Deloitte provided advice and support on the ongoing rollout of the TSP project. The contracts, each of which was worth £5.4m to the firm, covered the period from 1 October 2020 until the end of last month.
“TSP is a fast-paced programme, and Deloitte will be expected to respond at pace to support programme priorities as they emerge,” the new contract states.
In an exclusive Q&A last month, HMRC chief digital and information officer Daljit Rehal told PublicTechnology that the rollout of TSP is progressing well.
“We’re on track with our plans to break up our largest IT contracts and award new ones, while protecting our live services, by June 2022,” he said. “So far, we’ve launched 26 competitive tenders, addressing over 85% of our IT spend, and awarded 22 contracts to 9 different suppliers. But our Technology Sourcing Programme is about much more than contracts. Between now and 2025, we will create the IT organisation we need for the future, helping ensure HMRC can meet its objectives and Charter commitments. This includes making our services accessible and easy and quick to use, and protecting the customer information we hold.”
A number of major deals have already been awarded via TSP, including £300m across two contracts, won respectively by Capgemini and Accenture and published last month. Last year, outsourcer Cognizant was awarded a pair of contracts worth a cumulative £150m, while IT reseller SCC won an £85m contract to provide software and support for the IT platforms that underpin the UK’s post-Brexit customs system
