State-owned investment organisation NS&I has awarded Atos a £660m, seven-year outsourcing contract, which it says will save taxpayers more than £400m over the contract period.
The contract is for the delivery of customer-facing and back-office services to NS&I's 25 million customers, as the firm looks to switch to digital channels.
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This will include the addition of a mobile-optimised website, apps, web chat and co-browsing to help guide customers through the website. Improvements will also be made to existing services that are available online.
NS&I initially outsourced its operations to Siemens Business Services in 1999, with the company subsequently being acquired by Atos in July 2011. The deal is estimated to reduce NS&I's core operating costs by 55 per cent, which equates to about £530m in cost savings.
Atos was chosen ahead of HP and Capita, following a re-tender process that started back in 2011. The three companies were shortlisted in February 2012.
"The new contract will ensure we can deliver our vision of enhancing further the services we offer to savers over the next seven years. I would like to congratulate Atos on winning the contract and also thank both Capita and HP for the time and energy they invested in the re-tender process," said Jane Platt, chief executive of NS&I.
"Taxpayers across the country will also benefit as the contract will deliver a saving of over £400m by 2021 - building on the £530m already saved under the current contract," Sajid Javid MP, economic secretary to the Treasury, added.
NS&I said that the cost savings for taxpayers would come from the increasing customer use of direct sales channels, improvements in technology and processes, and supporting the growth of NS&I's leveraging activity.
