§ The Paymaster General (Dawn Primarolo)The Inland Revenue is today announcing that Cap Gemini Ernst & Young (CGEY) has been selected as the Department's preferred supplier for the Aspire IT services contract.
Aspire will provide a range of Information Technology/Information Systems and related services including voice. These services are intended to support current and new business channels (including e-business) as the Department faces the challenges of the future. Because no one single supplier can provide the full range of IT services the Inland Revenue requires, CGEY will act as the Prime supplier with responsibility for integrating Inland Revenue systems and supporting transformation, supported by co-partners.
The initial term of the contract will be 10 years, with options to extend, potentially in a number of stages, for up to 18 years.
The competition sought to identify the bidder which delivers the most economically advantageous tender. Two preferred bidders were announced on 16 July 2003. Cap Gemini Ernst & Young and Revenue Professional Services (RPS—an alliance of EDS and Accenture). The Project developed a comprehensive and exhaustive evaluation process that commenced with the receipt of responses to the Invitation to Tender (ITT) in March 2003. The technical fit of each proposition was tested against specific criteria for:
106WSstrategic partnership potentialability to deliver IT servicesability to innovate and deliver technology enabled changeability to manage transition to the new contract effectively.In parallel with this activity there was a financial and commercial evaluation.
CGEY proved themselves across the range of evaluation criteria and demonstrated their capacity to act as strategic partner. In addition, the contract prices quoted by both bidders were compared with each other and with a baseline established through the use of professional benchmarking advisers (a "Should Cost Model").