LONDON: HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) will need to spend £600 million to replace its £10 billion Aspire contract with Capgemini, the department’s chief information and digital officer Mark Dearnley (pictured) has revealed.
The contract, which was signed in 2004 and due to expire in June 2017 at a cost of £10.4 billion, was already the most expensive technology contract in government, according to the National Audit Office (NAO). The additional cost of replacing the contract now takes the total value of Aspire to £11 billion.
Dearnley told the Public Accounts Committee that the extra cost will help to reduce HMRC’s annual ICT costs to fall by 25 percent from £800 million to about £600 million by the 2019/20 financial year.
