HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has agreed a contract with consultancy Deloitte to act as technical delivery partner on the Single Trade Window programme.
This involves providing traders with a digital platform for submitting information and sharing data to support international trade.
Deloitte has agreed on a contract to support the work to run until the end of May 2026 at a value of £100 million.
The plan for the Single Trade Window is part of the Government’s strategy for post-Brexit trade arrangements. According to the contract award notice, all departments and agencies that have a presence at the border are involved as delivery partners, but the programme sits within HMRC for delivery puproses.
It involves delivering a set of technology capabilities for a range of border policy changes that were historically not feasible due to the necessary data coming from a number of government systems involved in moving goods across borders.
Standardisation priority
Among the requirements for the Single Trade Window set out by the Government last year in a discussion paper are that it: enables traders and intermediaries to submit all border data needed in a standard format; puts the onus on government to facilitate data sharing between border authorities and agencies; and eliminates the need to submit the same data twice.
Similar initiatives have been developed in countries including Singapore, Sweden, New Zealand and the USA.
The notice says Deloitte will have to work flexibly with partners to enable a range of transformations, including the integration of supply chain data in the Government border model, and ultimately the implementation of the Ecosystem of Trust mode. The latter involves the use of technology, data and trusted trader relationships to minimise administrative burdens and costs on traders.
