DWP issues 'key' update ahead of bank account checks for people on benefits

DWP has signed two new contracts reportedly worth around £7million to "maintain and modernise" one of its "key" platforms to tackle fraud and error.

A Department for Work and Pensions update has been issued ahead of a major benefit fraud crackdown and bank account checks. The DWP has signed two new contracts reportedly worth around £7million to "maintain and modernise" one of its "key" platforms to tackle fraud and error.

The DWP has signed two contracts potentially worth a cumulative £7m to maintain and modernise a key platform designed to use big data to help tackle fraud and error. Both deals come into effect tomorrow and respectively cover “service maintenance and change” and “DevOps as a service” provision in relation to the DWP’s Data Service Platform (DSP).

The platform is described by the department as “a critical service used within DWP for the management and exploitation of big data which realises approximately £0.5bn per year in fraud and error based on future benefit spend”.

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The larger of the two contracts has been awarded to Preston-headquartered big data specialist R+ Analytics, which will help the DWP “support and maintain the applications and develop ongoing changes and modernisation transformation on the platform."

The supplier will be expected to “lead and support delivery activities across DSP and continuous improvement”. This will include “identifying setbacks and shortcomings”, and then supporting the “adoption, application, and oversight of architectural governance, ensuring that optimal approaches are used”.

The contract also covers the provision of “design and development for OPH (on-premises hosting), AWS and Azure integration with different tools like Cloudera, Informatica BDM, data science and QlikSense”. The deal will also require the firm to “work closely with engineers and end users to understand requirements”.

And it will “design, develop and arrange handover of a supporting business process for ongoing maintenance and support of the RBAC model”. “A DevOps engineering service is required for delivery of business critical data services and ongoing changes,” the contract says.

This will involve “establishing continuous build environments to speed up software development, designing efficient practices, delivering comprehensive best practices, [and] managing and reviewing technical operations”.