HMRC has drafted in the Bain & Company management consultancy to help it move away from Aspire, the government's biggest IT deal.
The Aspire contract was signed between HMRC and Capgemini in 2004, but is due to come to an end in 2017. The tax authority recently issued a two-year, £20m tender for consultants to advise it on the transition from dealing with one big contractor to potentially more than 400 smaller suppliers.
A contract award notice published by HMRC confirms that Bain & Company has won the tender to become its "lead transformation partner", seeing off bids by eight other firms.
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The original tender document says the tax authority – which recently moved 250 Capgemini staff in-house to help it prepare for the end of the contract – is looking for "deep and expert knowledge" of exiting a "large scale outsourced IT arrangement".
The document adds: "This knowledge, combined with significant experience, will include management of exit from a large scale outsourced arrangement, system process re-engineering, programme management and governance, supporting people and culture change with access to further expertise as required."
It was recently revealed that former health secretary Andrew Lansley had taken up a role with Bain as an adviser on "innovation in healthcare".