HMRC have announced a £1 billion tech procurement contract for "a strategic Core SaaS CRM Platform, along with core and additional supplementary products to meet the full range of eCRM capability". The contract comes after continued criticism of HMRC's systems from the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee.
The preliminary market engagement notice is looking for software systems that can form the backbone of HMRC's customer management capabilities and be rolled out to the different tax regimes in a priority order. The estimated order value is £1 billion over a contract period from 2 February 2026 to 2 February 2036 (15 years) with a possible extension until 2 February 2041.
The announcement comes at a time when a new Public Accounts Committee report, 'The cost of the tax system, Twenty-Third Report of Session 2024–25The cost of the tax system, Twenty-Third Report of Session 2024–25', was again critical of HMRC's services and called on the use of new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence to be embraced.
The chairman of the committee, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP, said, "Customers at the moment are forced to engage with an authority that is frankly a lumbering dinosaur."
Last year, the PAC reported that HMRC's phone service's performance reached an all-time low, with only two-thirds of calls answered and the average wait time being more than 23 minutes.
HMRC are looking to procure:
- Core CRM Software as a Service (SaaS) Platform, including registration, subscription and customer record management capabilities.
- Identity, Verification, Access and Fraud (IDVA&F) Software as a Service (SaaS).
- Secure Digital Exchange & Communication (SDEC) SaaS.
- Document storage.
- Architecture and product technical support (vendor-specific).
The new CRM system must seamlessly integrate with updated customer service platforms, including the future Contact Centre as a Service (CCaaS), which will also be procured in 2025.
In early April, HMRC undertook informal market engagement to explore the core CRM capabilities in the market. This exercise helped the department consider what capabilities are standard.
External link
Procurement details: HMRC Enterprise Customer Relationship Management