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 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 procurement track record is anything to go by.
Fujitsu created the service during the Brexit transition period, which ran for a year until the end of 2020, after a competition was launched, earmarked for a £200 million contract. Multiple extensions to the contract culminated in a £67 million award last September, which brought the total expenditure to £509.6 million ($642.7 million).
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 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.
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. ®
