Taxman opens up EDS contract for competition

The Inland Revenue has announced an open competition for tenders to provide its IT services from 2004 onwards.

The competition - called Aspire - will seek a replacement for services currently provided by EDS and Accenture, and is thought to be worth in the region of £400m a year.

The Inland Revenue has been much criticised for problems in its IT systems, particularly the infamous Accenture system which was supposed to process National Insurance payments.

The revenue said it had announced the competition because the department faced "unparalleled" challenges in delivering services to the public using IT.

A spokeswoman for the Inland Revenue denied it had announced the competition so far in advance of the start date was because it was looking to move away from its existing suppliers.

It said the contract required a long handover period.

A National Audit Office report last week found the Inland Revenue had been right to stick with Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) for its National Insurance computer system, but only because it was locked in to the technology, and the cost of moving elsewhere was just too high.