Rural Payments Agency looking for new IT for much-criticised CAP programme

Rural Payments Agency forges ahead with second-generation programme procurement

The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) is looking for a second generation of contracts for the design and implementation of IT systems intended to support its Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) delivery programme.

The £154m CAP programme has been hampered by a number of issues - most notably mismanagement by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Government Digital Service (GDS), which has been labelled as "ineffective collaboration" by the National Audit Office, and a "childish turf war" by the Public Accounts Committee.

The CAP Delivery Programme was established in 2012 to address previous failings in how CAP payments were paid to farmers. The Programme was supposed to provide a technical solution and a set of supporting services, including service management and infrastructure.

The RPA, which is an "executive agency" of Defra, claimed in a prior information notice that the first generation of contracts for the design and implementation of IT systems that support the development CAP schemes are due to expire at the end of September 2016. Therefore, replacements are required to ensure continuity of services.

It said that a second-generation procurement project had been initiated to define scope and to procure new contracts, which will be predominantly for the support, maintenance and hosting of applications with limited development capability going forward.

RPA have attached a questionnaire to the notice in order to get feedback from stakeholders before the Agency presses ahead with a formal procurement approach for the technologies and support services required.

There are several separate lots currently being proposed. The services to be provided include a finance and payment system, a customer portal for rural payments, a policy engine, a land management system (LMS) and hosting.