HMRC’s telephony platform contract expires 23.1.2021. The department wishes to modernise contact handling as part of our wider strategy to transform customer management. A ‘best in breed’ approach has been adopted, aiming to procure telephony technologies that can work together and with other contact engagement components, to deliver excellent, digital first, customer service.

The current budget for the initial 4-year contract term for all 3 requirement lots is 57 000 000 GBP. The estimates provided at lot-specific level are the indicative budgets to achieve the overall budget for the initial term. The authority will consider proposals which include pricing above the lot-specific budgetary figures provided, but reserve the right to exclude such proposals which are above the lot-specific indicative budgetary figures, should its overall budget of 57 000 000 GBP be exceeded. The overall 91 000 000 GBP value includes for the optional extension of the contract for a total of a further 2 years.

The core system

The core telephony capabilities for receiving, queuing and handling inbound telephone calls and making bulk outbound calls;

Carrier services

The capability to make and receive calls from the public telecommunications network, including the provisions of connections to the public network, intelligent network layer and a range of non-geographic telephone numbers

Systems integrator

Performing the IT Delivery Lead role to ensure that the different telephony systems delivered under lots 1 – 3 will integrate with each other and with the wider ecosystem.

The use of voice automation in identifying a caller's identity, intent, call steering and voice self-service Applications.

Voice biometrics 3 capability to deliver secure and accurate identity management.

The recording, storage, transcription and analysis on 100 % of calls received by HMRC. Integrating the analytical capability with all other telephony components.

Securely storing and retrieving large volumes of data and metadata, including c.170 m call recordings for six years plus current tax year.