HMRC vowed to break up with Capgemini then paid it another £4.2B

The UK government continues to award large contracts to overseas suppliers, despite a policy prioritizing domestic businesses.

HMRC has paid French tech giant Capgemini at least £4.2 billion since 2014, despite vows to dismantle their flagship Aspire outsourcing arrangement. This spending, spanning 15,726 transactions until July 2026, contradicts the UK government's stated policy to "back British industry" and prioritize domestic businesses for public contracts. The original Aspire contract, initiated in 2004, was designed to be a ten-year deal with Capgemini as the prime supplier, but it has seen multiple extensions and contract awards. Although HMRC aims to diversify its supplier base with shorter, more flexible contracts, Capgemini continues to secure significant deals, some awarded without competition, for services related to systems it initially built or managed. The ongoing relationship, including a recent £600 million contact center deal, could extend until 2036, marking 32 years since the Aspire contract began.

The continued substantial investment in Capgemini by HMRC, a major UK government tax collector, directly challenges the current administration's procurement agenda. This agenda, set forth by Prime Minister Andy Burnham, explicitly aims to leverage public spending to bolster British industry and ensure that government contracts create high-quality domestic jobs. The scale of the payments to Capgemini, a French supplier, underscores the difficulty in reorienting such vast, long-standing technological relationships.

This situation highlights a persistent tension between strategic supplier relationships necessary for critical infrastructure and the political imperative to diversify and onshore. HMRC's defense that these awards are compliant and part of a move to a diverse supplier base suggests a gradual transition. However, the continuation of significant, sometimes non-competitive, contracts with an incumbent French firm signals that achieving the government's stated goals for public procurement may require more decisive action or a longer timeline than anticipated.