Department for Business, Innovation & Skills terminates SSCL contract

BIS claims that contract was 'no longer viable' based on costs, service and level of risk

The Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) is terminating a contract with Shared Services Connected Ltd (SSCL).

SSCL is the shared services joint venture between Sopra Steria (75 per cent) and the Cabinet Office (25 per cent) established in November 2013. A contract had been established between SSCL and BIS back in 2013. It would have required UK Shared Business Services (SBS) to transfer approximately 15 per cent of transactional volumes, specific to HR, Payroll and Finance to SSCL from April 2015.

The deal formed part of the government's Next Generation Shared Services Strategy, which aims to save taxpayers up to £500m a year by sharing corporate services between departments. But embarrassingly BIS has now claimed that the contract is "no longer viable" because of, among other things, the costs relating to the contract.

"A number of factors changed since the placing of the contract, and based on costs, service and level of risk, it was no longer a viable option and an agreement, endorsed by Cabinet Office, was reached to terminate the contract," a BIS spokesperson said.

"We are currently considering options for a future shared services model for BIS and partner organisations," it added.

It is unclear how well SSCL has fared since its inception. The Major Projects Authority has flagged the project as problematic.

That hasn't stopped the Met Police signing a mega £216m 10-year contract with the organisation. Computing has questioned whether the deal - which will see HR, Finance and Payroll being outsourced to SSCL - could be the next government IT disaster. The deal bears much resemblance to past IT catastrophes in the public sector, which Computing documented in August.

Computing is awaiting further comment from BIS and the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) on the matter.