TheIdentity
& Passport Service(IPS) has appointed two
new consulting firms, Deloitte and Ernst & Young, to help PA
Consulting, which up to now has enjoyed the lion's share of
consulting business on theNational Identity Scheme.
An IPS spokesman said, "IPS aims for greater coherence in
delivery through the use of a limited number of firms, and to
leverage their experience and corporate knowledge. Those we have
appointed have demonstrated an excellent track record in programmes
of comparable scale and complexity."
Deloitte will assist with strategy and architecture, programme
management and financial modelling, the spokesman said. "Ernst and
Young and PA Consulting will work on the various projects
established to deliver individual scheme components," he said.
The
IPS estimates that business and programme management costs will
be 18% (£853m) of total costs of about £5bn
The spokesman said that IPS is recruiting civil servants to key
positions and enhancing its client-side capability. It sought 50
new staff in IT, project mangement and commercial skills from late
last year, and is now looking for another 50.
James Hall, chief executive of the Identity & Passport
Service, said, "We are developing a single scheme-wide
architecture, encompassing the business processes, technology, data
and organisational design. Integral to this architecture will be
the means of testing that it meets our requirements and supports
monitoring and in-life service management."