The Home Office has put a £120 million, five-year contract opportunity to digitalise Her Majesty’s Passport Office (HMPO) out to tender – earmarking £40 million more for the procurement than first estimated in an initial market engagement exercise in August last year.
The contract, which can be extended by up to two years, is a sweeping one to provide back-office services amid a drive to move away from paper applications, the contract notice shows.
A tender posted Thursday said: “HMPO seeks a commercial partner to provide new replacement service to both maintain business continuity while transforming existing arrangements to introduce a modern, digital service.”
Passport Office Contract: Submissions need to be in by July 7.
Services will be delivered within two secure Document Handling Units (DHU) located at the supplier’s facilities, the notice adds, saying it will “reduce the flow of hardcopy documentation across the business, eliminate geographical restraints, maximise efficiency and quality and improve document fraud detection”.
The contract coes as HMPO – which issues over six million passports every year – aims to hit a target of making 90 percent of renewals fully digital by 2020.
The move to digitalisation comes as part of a broader government push to move away from paper-based services, which remain in wide use.
The civil service expects to deliver nearly 100 public services digitally by 2020 and is currently delivering 40 major government transformation programmes, including a new Childcare Choices website, the ongoing Universal Credit system and a fully digital tax system, as well as the biggest courts reform programme in the world.
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