The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (Vosa) provides a range of road licensing, testing and enforcement services. While its 2,600 staff are part of the Department of Transport, the organisation operates as a trading fund, whereby it exists on a quasi-commercial footing and covers its costs using income derived from fees charged. This means that testing the roadworthiness of heavy goods vehicles and administering the MoT certificate scheme is allied to attention to the bottom line. “It gives us a very sharp focus on achieving business benefits, and one area where we can see that happening is in the provision of IT services,” says Nigel Shenton, head of IT at the agency.

Mr Shenton cites a nine-year, £10m contract with Atos Origin, a 50,000-strong European outsourcing group, which was signed in January 2003, as an example of how Vosa puts commercial thinking into practice. “This is an outsourcing contract, but it is not just about boxes and wires.” The contract is devised so that Atos Origin has to address specific targets of the Vosa business, rather than merely implementing a set standard of IT support. The 700-strong force of Vosa

roadside inspectors is evidence of this approach. Atos Origin has provided inspectors with a new generation of handheld devices and then integrates these via central computer systems.

This process has boosted productivity among inspectors, enabling them to detect more infringements of safety regulations. Enforcement is backed by data analysis, enabling inspectors to target prolific offenders. Unproductive random checks are also on the decline as inspectors are now briefed on the best location and time of the day to perform checks. Vosa aims to double its success rate in catching the owners of poorly maintained lorries inside five years and well-managed information is making that a probability.

The outsourcing arrangement is subject to key performance indicators (KPIs), but these are linked to desired targets of Vosa itself, not of the IT department. For Mr Shenton it all makes sense. “We arrive at KPIs through debate and mutual understanding. It is not a case of banging on the door and imposing targets. The only alternative to this deal would be to go back to traditional IT provision, buying from commodity suppliers and bearing the risk that a project might go wrong.

“This gives us the best of both worlds. We can transfer the risk to Atos Origin and say what we want their involvement to achieve for us.” He cites one of the most compelling reasons for going with a third-party service provider. “IT is a crucial part of our business, but that is not where we think our best efforts are deployed.”

David Tait is in charge of large accounts at Atos Origin. He welcomes the clear targets his staff must reach. “We have commercial incentives to make the deal work, as we get paid when the contract reaches an agreed milestone.” Getting every Vosa inspector up and running with the handheld devices was one such milestone. Mr Tait thinks that the clients of managed services deals are becoming a lot more thoughtful in the way they go about structuring a deal. “People have learned that it is not like buying electricity. You have to align the IT with the business.”