HMRC to trial IT app-development offshoring

HM Revenue and Customs has begun an 18-month pilot project to assess whether the department should carry out more IT work offshore.

The department, Whitehall's third largest spender on IT, announced on Friday that it has asked its supplier Capgemini to use workers based in India to carry out application development work for Chief, the computer system that oversees imports and exports to and from the UK.

The work will take place over the next 18 months, at the end of which HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will assess the value and quality of the work provided in India and decide whether app-development work for other systems used by the department should be carried out offshore.

For more on this story, see HMRC 'dips its toe' into IT offshoring on silicon.com.