DVLA looking for new CIO after completing major insourcing project

The Driver & Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is looking for a new CIO following the completion of a two-year project that has seen the government organisation move its IT in-house.

Current CTO Iain Patterson will move back to the Cabinet Office. He has driven the DVLA’s move in-house since the organisation decided this was the best course to take in late 2013.

The new CIO will be responsible for the agency’s digital developments, supported by more than 600 IT staff. “We are recruiting a new CIO for the new world,” said DVLA CEO Oliver Morley.

In 2013, when its major Partners Achieving Change Together (Pact) IT outsourcing contract with IBM, Fujitsu and Concentrix, which had been running for 13 years, came up for renewal, the DVLA weighed up its options.

After looking at the service integration and management (SIAM) and tower models for IT outsourcing, it decided to move IT in-house. The DVLA had outsourced for over 30 years.

This move in-house, which was completed on 12 September, led to more than 300 staff moving to the DVLA from suppliers and has already delivered about £300m in savings.

Patterson told Computer Weekly: “That’s done. There is a great canvas there for somebody to develop their career and take the DVLA to the next stage, and I will go and do some more exciting things.”

His experience in moving the IT at the DVLA will come in useful in the Cabinet Office as it shakes up IT contracts across government.

Morley said this is a new and exciting time to be taking on the role of DVLA CIO. “The work that Iain has done is unprecedented and it means the new future is there and it’s an in-house and agile IT capability,” he said. “It is a real pity to lose Iain but I am sure he is going to go away and do a similar thing for government.”