The Revenue Commissioners has awarded a contract for the delivery of certain ICT services to the indigenous consultancy and services firm Version 1 as part of its multi-vendor strategy for external ICT support.
The value of the two-year contract has not been disclosed. It was awarded as a result of an open EU procurement process and implementation began last summer.
Siliconrepublic.com understands that the Revenue’s internal IT group will manage multi-vendor teams that include representatives from Accenture, Deloitte, IBM and Fujitsu, as well as Version 1.
As part of the contract, various teams will be involved in developing new applications for tax and customs, in addition to rolling out business intelligence systems across the board. The tax agency is also continuing its technology strategy of moving to service oriented architecture.
The terms of the deal also cover maintenance, enhancement and live support of Revenue’s extensive business applications.
The deal appears to mark a development that industry insiders have been flagging recently; namely that Irish public sector bodies are seriously prepared to consider indigenous tech firms for contracts instead of always using the large multinational consultancies and systems integrators.
In a recent IDC survey of Irish technology buyers in large organisations of more than 500 users and public sector agencies, Version 1 was rated as a ‘preferred supplier’ on an equal footing with multinational IT service providers.
In a statement, Version 1’s managing director Justin Keatinge said: “Over the last number of years, Revenue has championed a very successful multi-vendor strategy for external ICT support. This tender marks a continued expansion of that approach which ensures Revenue secures quality ICT services and value for money from its suppliers.”
Version 1 is no stranger to the public sector, having worked with agencies, semi-state bodies and government departments since the company was founded in 1996. At one time, these contracts gave the company 80pc of its revenues, but public sector IT services now account for 40pc of Version 1’s annual turnover, which is on target to be more than €18m.
