Capita's £370M Whitehall outsourcing deal challenged as 'abnormally low'

Capita confirmed today it won a business process outsourcing deal for multiple UK government departments for £370 million over ten years, less than 40 percent of the estimated value outlined during the tender stage.

The shared services deal to run HR and finance systems for four departments is already the subject of a legal claim from rival bidder Sopra Steria, which alleges Capita's bid was "abnormally low" and based on staffing "significantly below the current levels."

Sopra Steria is the incumbent provider for some of the departments through SSCL, which the French tech firm owns.

In a statement, Capita said it would deliver tech-enabled back-office services for civil servants across four major government departments: the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), Ministry of Justice (MoJ), Home Office, and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). It represents the so-called Synergy cluster of the government's shared services ...