Published on the 14/10/2014 | Written by Newsdesk

Five months after releasing a closed RFP to multi-nationals Accenture and Capgemini, Inland Revenue has selected Accenture as its preferred provider of design services for the first stage of its business transformation programme…

The project, which is being touted as a business-led, technology enabled transformation and involves re-designing nearly every part of Inland Revenue, is New Zealand’s biggest public sector IT project ever. Its projected budget is between $1.5 and $1.7 billion, according to latest estimates. Accenture will now undertake the first big chunk of the project as preferred supplier of design services.

The Inland Revenue has previously been criticised by some local industry bodies and vendors for effectively shutting out New Zealand companies with the scope of its project. But Commissioner of Inland Revenue Naomi Ferguson, said of the appointment: “Tax and entitlement administration is critical for New Zealand, and it is essential Inland Revenue plan its changes carefully, and implements them properly, so New Zealanders can have trust and belief in its systems. That is why we need a partner like Accenture, which has designed and implemented systems of similar scale and requirement before.

“Throughout the procurement process, Accenture clearly demonstrated it had the right capabilities, capacity and experience to assist Inland Revenue.”

Accenture has previously worked on a number of tax-related projects overseas, including at the Australian Taxation Office where it helped to transform the efficiency and effectiveness of ATO’s internal operations and drive improvements in terms of taxpayers’ experiences and compliance. As a result, the ATO has delivered improved client services and realised $A150 million per year in operational savings.

Other projects in which Accenture has been involved include revamping the United Kingdom’s tax authority’s IT processes and building internal capabilities to improve government productivity, a number of projects with the Ireland Office of the Revenue Commissioners including one to provide a unified view of its customers across tax categories, and a project with South African Revenue Service to integrate its disparate tax systems.

Deputy Commissioner Change at Inland Revenue Greg James said, “Our business transformation programme will reduce compliance, administration time and costs, deliver better services for our customers, and make it easier for Government to implement policy.

“Accenture’s experience and knowledge will make an important contribution to the success of the business transformation programme. “

Questioned about the potential role of New Zealand technology companies in the IRD project back in May, Revenue Minister Todd McClay said: “It was always envisaged that the capability and capacity required to implement Business Transformation would come from both New Zealand and overseas.”

Inland Revenue will now commence negotiations with Accenture, which are expected to be completed following Cabinet’s consideration of the Transformation Design Business case.