The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has awarded Accenture a contract for up to seven years to deliver application development and maintenance services for its customer-facing systems including delivery of elements of the IT solution for Universal Credit, the U.K. government’s program to simplify working-age benefits systems into a single streamlined system.

The value of the Accenture contract could range from £50 million to £70 million per year, depending on Departmental demand for IT services.

Accenture has chosen to partner with Atos based on its strong track record of successfully delivering IT services for DWP, and with a particular focus on delivering secure online citizen self-service applications. As Accenture’s main sub-contractor, Atos will provide the full range of application development and maintenance services.

“Our work with the Department for Work and Pensions will help to further improve the service they deliver to reflect the changing needs of U.K. citizens,” said Mark Lyons, Accenture’s U. K. and Ireland managing director for Health & Public Service. “Accenture will help DWP drive significant and sustainable cost savings. This new contract builds on our longstanding relationship with DWP and the successful delivery of similar projects with other public-sector clients, based on the deep industry skills and insight from our global network.”