Capita and IBM battle for London's congestion charge scheme

Capita is the frontrunner for contract commencing October 2015

Transport for London (TfL) is considering bids from IBM and Capita to run London's congestion charging scheme.

IBM holds the current contract, which it won in December 2007 and expires on 31 October 2015.

The TfL board agreed in February this year to re-let the contract, as well as the notice processing service contract held by NSL, in a combined open procurement process.

"IBM is contracted to run the congestion charging and low emission zone schemes until October 2015," said Paul Cowperthwaite, TfL's general manager for congestion charging.

"We are currently undertaking a procurement process to appoint a company to operate the schemes from this date," he added.

Capita, which won the first congestion scheme contract in 2003, is thought to be the frontrunner for the new contract. But a TfL spokesperson told Computing that TfL could not comment on the bidders throughout the procurement process.

TfL did claim that congestion charging customer satisfaction under IBM has risen to an all-time high, with a mean score of 83, and that TfL will continue its "excellent" working relationship with IBM and NSL until the end of their contracts.