UK tax authority eyes £880M overhaul for Northern Ireland trade services
(2025/02/20)
- Reference: 1740054411
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/02/20/hmrc_ni_trade_services/
- Source link:
The UK's tax collector is looking for a tech supplier to take on a £370 million, seven-year contract to support a digital platform and call center to handle trading arrangements over the Northern Ireland border.
HMRC has launched a competition to find a vendor to support a digital platform for trading declarations and run a call center to offer advice to traders, according to [1]a procurement notice published this week .
The deal could be worth up to £370 million ($466.7 million) - or maybe more if the public sector's [2]procurement track record is anything to go by.
[3]
Fujitsu created the service during the Brexit transition period, which ran for a year until the end of 2020, after [4]a competition was launched , earmarked for a £200 million contract. Multiple extensions to the contract culminated in [5]a £67 million award last September , which brought the total expenditure to £509.6 million ($642.7 million).
[6]
After it departed from the EU, the UK was forced to create special arrangements for trade over the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland under what became known as [7]the Windsor Framework . The arrangements were necessary because although the UK had exited EU customs arrangements, it could not introduce border checks at the Northern Ireland border owing to rules created in the Good Friday peace agreement.
[8]Legacy systems running UK's collector are taxing – in more ways than one
[9]Why does the UK keep getting beaten up by IT suppliers?
[10]UK tax collector's phone service 'deliberately' bad to push users online, say MPs
[11]Accenture wins £35M more UK tax work without competition despite promise to 'disaggregate'
The Trader Support Service allows importers and exporters to submit declarations via a digital platform with self-serve guidance and contact center support on completing digital declarations. The customer support service provides self-serve guidance such as written guides, webinars, videos, and process maps, as well as a contact center where traders can raise a range of inquiries.
The new deal is expected to be awarded in November 2025, before the "commencement of a rigorous mobilization plan from December 2025."
Following "mobilization," the new contract is expected to be in place for an initial period of five years, with the option to extend for two further periods of 12 months. ®
Get our [12]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/005479-2025
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/16/nao_uk_government_tech/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Z7dfrjK4FuHbq-6fef72_wAAAMU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://ted.europa.eu/en/notice/-/detail/362121-2020
[5] https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/029510-2024?origin=SearchResults&p=1
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z7dfrjK4FuHbq-6fef72_wAAAMU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-windsor-framework
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/10/legacy_costs_hmrc/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/28/uk_govt_it_suppliers/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/22/pms_say_hmrc_phone_services/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/03/accenture_wins_35_million_more/
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
HMRC has launched a competition to find a vendor to support a digital platform for trading declarations and run a call center to offer advice to traders, according to [1]a procurement notice published this week .
The deal could be worth up to £370 million ($466.7 million) - or maybe more if the public sector's [2]procurement track record is anything to go by.
[3]
Fujitsu created the service during the Brexit transition period, which ran for a year until the end of 2020, after [4]a competition was launched , earmarked for a £200 million contract. Multiple extensions to the contract culminated in [5]a £67 million award last September , which brought the total expenditure to £509.6 million ($642.7 million).
[6]
After it departed from the EU, the UK was forced to create special arrangements for trade over the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland under what became known as [7]the Windsor Framework . The arrangements were necessary because although the UK had exited EU customs arrangements, it could not introduce border checks at the Northern Ireland border owing to rules created in the Good Friday peace agreement.
[8]Legacy systems running UK's collector are taxing – in more ways than one
[9]Why does the UK keep getting beaten up by IT suppliers?
[10]UK tax collector's phone service 'deliberately' bad to push users online, say MPs
[11]Accenture wins £35M more UK tax work without competition despite promise to 'disaggregate'
The Trader Support Service allows importers and exporters to submit declarations via a digital platform with self-serve guidance and contact center support on completing digital declarations. The customer support service provides self-serve guidance such as written guides, webinars, videos, and process maps, as well as a contact center where traders can raise a range of inquiries.
The new deal is expected to be awarded in November 2025, before the "commencement of a rigorous mobilization plan from December 2025."
Following "mobilization," the new contract is expected to be in place for an initial period of five years, with the option to extend for two further periods of 12 months. ®
Get our [12]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/005479-2025
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/16/nao_uk_government_tech/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Z7dfrjK4FuHbq-6fef72_wAAAMU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://ted.europa.eu/en/notice/-/detail/362121-2020
[5] https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/029510-2024?origin=SearchResults&p=1
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z7dfrjK4FuHbq-6fef72_wAAAMU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-windsor-framework
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/10/legacy_costs_hmrc/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/28/uk_govt_it_suppliers/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/22/pms_say_hmrc_phone_services/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/03/accenture_wins_35_million_more/
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Creating opportunities where previously there were none.
Anonymous Coward
There's an opportunity to fleece the British taxpayer for nearly €450M for example.
Re: Brexit
codejunky
@tmTM
"Creating problems where there were previously none."
What came first the EU or the GFA? Does the GFA say the UK must be in the EU or that RoI/UK have no physical border?
Brexit, an excuse to for something that is not our problem.
Re: Brexit
Anonymous Coward
Brexiteers: Shrugging their shoulders and washing their hands since 2016.
"It's not our fault. It's never our fault. It's that lot over there. The foreigns and the leftists! Not us!"
Sounds like a job for Version1
Anonymous Coward
They're probably the largest Irish based service outsourcer with a history of modernising government applications.
(No, never worked for them but I know a lot of people who did)
£880 Million was that on the side of a red bus ...?
Anonymous Coward
Sovereignty!
Winning!
[1]Waiting for the usual suspects to post...
[1] https://newsthump.com/2025/01/31/everything-is-proceeding-exactly-as-i-have-foreseen-explains-wise-brexit-sage-7/
I stopped exporting at Brexit.
Tron
It just wasn't worth the extra hassle.
Brexit
Creating problems where there were previously none.
Congratulations