ID and Passport Agency call centre deal up for grabs

A contract for outsourced call centre services and customer support at the newly formed Identity and Passport Service (IPS) is up for grabs.

The IPS, a Home Office agency, is inviting expressions of interest from suppliers to replace the existing deal with MM Teleperformance for the old UK Passport Service, which expires at the end of October 2007.

The new deal will take into account a number of changes in the passport application process. The services offered by the IPS and the call centres will handle enquiries made to the agency by telephone, SMS, internet, email, fax and letter.

From October this year, under new 'Authentication by Interview' passport rules to cut down on fraud, some 610,000 first-time applicants per year will have to attend one of a network of 69 local offices around the UK for a face-to-face interview, and the IPS call centres will be responsible for helping to arrange and book these locations and times.

The IPS call centres will also handle queries made through a new Passport Validation Service, which will allow accredited organisations to contact the IPS and confirm the validity of passports presented as proof of identity.

But a Home Office spokesman said the call centre deal is not part of the ID cards procurement programme, which has still to begin formally after the legislation was approved earlier this year.

He said: "The main objective of the new contact centre contract is to ensure the continuity of services to support the business upon the expiry of the existing contract."

Bidders have until 8 August 2006 to respond to the IPS.