SAP scores £275M award from UK tax collector – sans competition
(2026/01/22)
- Reference: 1769074211
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2026/01/22/sap_275_million_award_from/
- Source link:
The UK tax collector has awarded SAP a £275 million ($370 million) contract to move the system, which handles over £800 billion (c $1 trillion) in tax revenue and payments annually, off an aging legacy platform and onto its latest software.
Fans of competition in the public sector supply market will be disappointed to learn that the contract was awarded without a wide procurement project, and the German software giant was the only bidder.
In an official notice published earlier this month, His Majesty's Revenue & Customs announced SAP won the deal to "migrate the Enterprise Tax Management Platform (ETMP) from the legacy ECC6.0 product to its successor platform S/4HANA," which was first released in 2015.
[1]
"As a modern software product, S/4HANA will provide improvements in flexibility and cost-effective[ness] having been designed from the start to be more user-centered," the [2]government department claims .
[3]
[4]
The contract with SAP is expected to last until 2035. The deal was awarded "without prior publication of a call for competition" because it falls outside the scope of the regulations as SAP was the "only supplier with sovereign capability," the notice states.
SAP plans to end mainstream support for ECC at the end of 2027, after which extended support will be available until the end of 2030 for a 2 percent premium. If customers have already signed up for a cloud migration and S/4HANA migration, SAP said a [5]special transition option may be available until 2033 "for ERP customers with large and very complex IT landscapes."
[6]
In February last year, Sir Jim Harra, HMRC chief executive, wrote that the tax collector planned to [7]decommission ECC 6.0 in 2030.
He said HMRC had two non-negotiable requirements in migrating off ECC: the solution had to be under a SaaS model. Meanwhile, it also had to be hosted in the UK.
"Having taken external technical and legal advice we are currently exploring the option to migrate from ECC6 to the updated product S4/HANA supplied by the incumbent supplier [SAP], who can deliver on both these requirements," [8]he said .
[9]
In July 2024, [10]Capgemini won a contract worth up to £574 million ($741 million) to run legacy tax management systems until 2029. The deal also included support for Enterprise Operations (EOPS). The French supplier was [11]part of the agreement which helped build and run ETMP under the Aspire contract, a [12]£10 billion arrangement (also with Accenture and Fujitsu) it planned to end in 2017 .
[13]Airbus to migrate critical apps to a sovereign Euro cloud
[14]UK SAP users say they're baffled by Business Suite reboot licensing maze
[15]Asda's 'self-inflicted' SAP mess after Walmart divorce stalls financial revival
[16]SAP's migration narrative suddenly looks messy as Kingfisher goes off-script
In his notice, Harra said HMRC would be seeking a new contract for a systems integration (SI) partner for the S/4HANA migration.
In 2022, the Crown Commercial Service, the commercial arm of the Cabinet Office, launched a framework for Tax Platform Major Change, including ETMP to "promote competition in delivering change." It also noted that the tax system relies on a “ [17]a highly customized version of SAP ECC6.0 ”.
SAP has insisted that customizations should be removed as users migrate from ECC to S/4HANA with a "clean core," although special features can be built in its cloud-based Business Technology Platform.
SAP may have won the contract, but the hard is just beginning. ®
Get our [18]Tech Resources
[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/databases&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aXIDVRDWmm5mFOdf0fyrUQAAA4E&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[2] https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/003960-2026
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/databases&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aXIDVRDWmm5mFOdf0fyrUQAAA4E&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
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[5] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/28/sap_extends_support_deadline/
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/databases&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aXIDVRDWmm5mFOdf0fyrUQAAA4E&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/23/sap_ecc_hmrc/
[8] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/enterprise-tax-management-platform-regeneration-programme-accounting-officers-assessment-summary/enterprise-tax-management-platform-regeneration-programme-accounting-officers-assessment-summary
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/databases&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aXIDVRDWmm5mFOdf0fyrUQAAA4E&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/19/capgemini_win_hrmc_deal_worth/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/11/hmrc_capgemini/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/09/hmrc_aspire_supplier_deals/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/19/airbus_sovereign_cloud/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/04/uk_sap_business_suite/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/01/asda_walmart_tech_divorce/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/19/kingfisher_sap/
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/19/400m_sap_hmrc/
[18] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Fans of competition in the public sector supply market will be disappointed to learn that the contract was awarded without a wide procurement project, and the German software giant was the only bidder.
In an official notice published earlier this month, His Majesty's Revenue & Customs announced SAP won the deal to "migrate the Enterprise Tax Management Platform (ETMP) from the legacy ECC6.0 product to its successor platform S/4HANA," which was first released in 2015.
[1]
"As a modern software product, S/4HANA will provide improvements in flexibility and cost-effective[ness] having been designed from the start to be more user-centered," the [2]government department claims .
[3]
[4]
The contract with SAP is expected to last until 2035. The deal was awarded "without prior publication of a call for competition" because it falls outside the scope of the regulations as SAP was the "only supplier with sovereign capability," the notice states.
SAP plans to end mainstream support for ECC at the end of 2027, after which extended support will be available until the end of 2030 for a 2 percent premium. If customers have already signed up for a cloud migration and S/4HANA migration, SAP said a [5]special transition option may be available until 2033 "for ERP customers with large and very complex IT landscapes."
[6]
In February last year, Sir Jim Harra, HMRC chief executive, wrote that the tax collector planned to [7]decommission ECC 6.0 in 2030.
He said HMRC had two non-negotiable requirements in migrating off ECC: the solution had to be under a SaaS model. Meanwhile, it also had to be hosted in the UK.
"Having taken external technical and legal advice we are currently exploring the option to migrate from ECC6 to the updated product S4/HANA supplied by the incumbent supplier [SAP], who can deliver on both these requirements," [8]he said .
[9]
In July 2024, [10]Capgemini won a contract worth up to £574 million ($741 million) to run legacy tax management systems until 2029. The deal also included support for Enterprise Operations (EOPS). The French supplier was [11]part of the agreement which helped build and run ETMP under the Aspire contract, a [12]£10 billion arrangement (also with Accenture and Fujitsu) it planned to end in 2017 .
[13]Airbus to migrate critical apps to a sovereign Euro cloud
[14]UK SAP users say they're baffled by Business Suite reboot licensing maze
[15]Asda's 'self-inflicted' SAP mess after Walmart divorce stalls financial revival
[16]SAP's migration narrative suddenly looks messy as Kingfisher goes off-script
In his notice, Harra said HMRC would be seeking a new contract for a systems integration (SI) partner for the S/4HANA migration.
In 2022, the Crown Commercial Service, the commercial arm of the Cabinet Office, launched a framework for Tax Platform Major Change, including ETMP to "promote competition in delivering change." It also noted that the tax system relies on a “ [17]a highly customized version of SAP ECC6.0 ”.
SAP has insisted that customizations should be removed as users migrate from ECC to S/4HANA with a "clean core," although special features can be built in its cloud-based Business Technology Platform.
SAP may have won the contract, but the hard is just beginning. ®
Get our [18]Tech Resources
[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/databases&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aXIDVRDWmm5mFOdf0fyrUQAAA4E&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[2] https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/003960-2026
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/databases&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aXIDVRDWmm5mFOdf0fyrUQAAA4E&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/databases&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aXIDVRDWmm5mFOdf0fyrUQAAA4E&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/28/sap_extends_support_deadline/
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/databases&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aXIDVRDWmm5mFOdf0fyrUQAAA4E&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/23/sap_ecc_hmrc/
[8] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/enterprise-tax-management-platform-regeneration-programme-accounting-officers-assessment-summary/enterprise-tax-management-platform-regeneration-programme-accounting-officers-assessment-summary
[9] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/databases&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aXIDVRDWmm5mFOdf0fyrUQAAA4E&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/19/capgemini_win_hrmc_deal_worth/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/11/hmrc_capgemini/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/09/hmrc_aspire_supplier_deals/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/19/airbus_sovereign_cloud/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/04/uk_sap_business_suite/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/01/asda_walmart_tech_divorce/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2025/11/19/kingfisher_sap/
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/19/400m_sap_hmrc/
[18] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Sovereign capability?
Zippy´s Sausage Factory
" only supplier with sovereign capability "
That phrase made me twitch. Are they finally waking up to what the Cloud Act requires of American companies? It would be nice...
Paper looks better
AMBxx
All government being forced to return to paper based systems looks better every day.
Future tenders for government ERP projects should include a requirement that the supplier covers the costs of transition to the system that replaces is. This would prevent the "it's cheaper than tendering" argument and might make the suppliers cooperate on database structures etc. I might be living in a dreamworld regarding the cooperation thing, but including the costs in the contracts would at least prevent the effective vendor lock-in that we see here.