back to article Capgemini wins contract to look after legacy HMRC Aspire tech

The UK tax collector has extended its relationship with French IT service provider Capgemini in a £215m contract, which awards the outsourcer work to look after tech provided under the controversial 2004 Aspire contract at least eight years beyond the first proposed end date for the deal. In a contract award notice published …

  1. Efer Brick

    At least it wasn't Infosys.

  2. Korev Silver badge
    Windows

    The planned approach to replace Aspire, dubbed the Technology Sourcing Programme, also seems to be slipping.

    Why not ARISE Replacement Special Exercise?

    Icon is almost Father Jack -->

    1. Dr. G. Freeman

      Because Crapgemini can't tell it apart from its

      Endeavour Logistics Beyond Ownership Workfow.

  3. Aristotles slow and dimwitted horse

    Won?

    How can it have been "won" if there was no competition?

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I worked on this as part of another supplier years ago. I cannot describe how bad CapGemini are. I also cannot express my complete lack of surprise at this.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Ditto

      I worked for another supplier trying to help HMRC do some modernisation as part of the Technology Sourcing Program. It was clear every time we interacted with CapG that there whole approach was to ignore and obfuscate and throw down roadblocks in the hope of winning this exact contract they have now been awarded. We knew it, HMRC knew it, CapG knew that we knew it, but just didn't care - they had HMRC by the balls. This is what outsourcing does to big organisations both in the public and private sector.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I used to work for them. Then they closed the Basingstoke office and made us all redundant. Fuck Capgemini. Seriously considered trojaning one of the repayments systems before I left. It was all written in some monstrosity called CoolGen and relied on external C code to write to a file, could have hashed the payment amount and charity name and month of payment, and if it matched a certain value, multiplied the generated payable order/transfer by like 100000. Left the source as it was, and just checked in the object file with the compiled change, waited a year or two, then put in a repayment request knowing the exact amount/name that would trigger it. I'm too honest >.<

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      > Then they closed the Basingstoke office and made us all redundant.

      Closing that office was one of the required cost savings in the Aspire contract and it would have happened regardless of who won.

      The IR were too cowardly to do it themselves (bad for the morale of other Civil Servants no doubt, not to mention the bad publicity for the Government) so they opted to pay the supplier to do the dirty work.

      1. tip pc Silver badge
        Thumb Down

        Closing that office was one of the required cost savings in the Aspire contract and it would have happened regardless of who won.

        The IR were too cowardly to do it themselves (bad for the morale of other Civil Servants no doubt, not to mention the bad publicity for the Government) so they opted to pay the supplier to do the dirty work.

        an all too common occurrence, not just in government but other industries too.

        It's not just the staff that get outsourced, the bad publicity goes too.

        1. PeterM42
          Mushroom

          Soooo TRUE! Big corporations, etc don't outsource their tech, as such. - They outsource their problem. An indication of incompetent management.

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