UK government issues £49m tender for payment services provider to underpin GOV.UK Pay platform
The UK government has initiated a search for a new payment service provider (PSP) to underpin its digital payments platform GOV.UK Pay, with plans to integrate open banking payments into the system.
UK government launches search for PSP to underpin GOV.UK Pay
GOV.UK Pay supports over 1,000 public sector services, including the NHS, police, and local authorities, in processing payments digitally. Since its creation by the UK’s Government Digital Service (GDS) in 2016, the platform has handled over £6 billion across 94 million transactions.
On 19 February, GDS issued a tender notice seeking a PSP to “underpin the GOV.UK Pay platform, specifically for processing credit and debit card payments and pay by bank (open banking) payments made by end users to services operated by local government, police, the armed forces and some other public sector organisations”.
This development follows shortly after GDS put out a request for information (RFI) on 18 September 2024 seeking to “understand the market and service offerings for processing credit and debit card payments and pay by bank (open banking) payments”.
The move is part of the UK government’s broader push towards advancing open banking, highlighted in its National Payments Vision announced last November, which called on “the FCA and PSR to consider its commitment to developing open banking to drive delivery of seamless account-to-account payments”.
PSPs interested in the recent tender must submit their applications by 19 March 2025. The successful firm will be awarded a contract valued at £49,212,000 (excluding VAT), running from July 2025 to July 2028, with two 12-month extension options.
GDS says the PSP will have a “12-month onboarding period”, before beginning “service provision in 2026”.
