Transport for London (TfL) has signed a 10-year deal with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to provide the technology system and customer access portal for the licensing of taxis and private hire vehicles in the city.
It has been agreed as part of a broader contract under which Marston (Holdings) will also provide vehicle licensing, inspection and contact centre services.
The joint contract award says the deal with TCS is worth up to £12 million, the one with Marston up to £54.6 million, and there is a provision for additional services that could take it all up to £103 million.
TfL specified that the technology solution should deal with all the relevant back office functions and street enforcement, acting as a central repository of data and available for use by itself and other suppliers.
TCS said it will design a single platform for the purposes using its DigiGOV enterprise framework, which takes in a self-service portal, workflow and case management functions, analytics and dashboards, a security framework, authentication and a search engine.
It has indicated that the system will enable TfL to quickly process licensing payments and refunds, and cabbies to manage their own business – functions such as vehicle inspection certifications and processing of personal details – through the self-service portal.
This will involve the use of an app hosted by AWS, which in turn will make the system more scalable as TfL captures more data.
Paramount importance
Graham Robinson, general manager of taxi and private hire at TfL, said: “An efficient and effective licensing system is paramount for any regulator overseeing taxi and private hire operations in a world city. We are pleased to have signed this contract with TCS as it ensures our business keeps pace with technological developments and give the best possible service to licensees.”
TCS will also act as lead integrator of the services covered by the two contracts.
The deal with Marston for vehicle licensing, inspection and contact centre services will involve taking online and telephone bookings and carrying out the inspections at sites sourced by TfL.
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