Sopra Steria's £370M Capita spat heads for 2028 courtroom showdown

System integrator Sopra Steria is set to have its day in court to contest a £370 million contract awarded by the UK government to Capita to run shared services for finance and HR across a number of Whitehall departments.

A judge has set a trial date for early 2028, pending attempts to settle the case out of court.

Sopra Steria's allegations center on the award of a business process outsourcing deal led by the Department for Work and Pensions valued at £370 million over ten years, less than 40 percent of the £958.7 million estimated value outlined during the tender stage, according to court filings from late last year.

The French headquartered SI is the incumbent provider for some of the departments through SSCL, formerly a joint venture with the British administration that Sopra Steria now entirely owns.

In its claim, Sopra Steria alleged Capita's bid to run the services for four major government departments was "abnormally low" and based on staffing "significantly below the current levels." In statements following the claim, both Capita and the DWP told The Register the government conducted a robust procurement process and were committed to providing a high level of service and value for money for the public.

The French tech and services biz later claimed the Capita bid was 42 percent below the DWP’s "Should Cost Model", designed to protect against a bias towards low bids, which provided a total price of £642 million, according to court papers.

According to papers released by the court last month, the trial is set to be listed for seven weeks from 17 January 2028 at the Technology and Construction Court, part of the High Court of Justice.

Alternative dispute resolution is set to continue in efforts to settle the case out of court, the participants response to which may affect how costs are awarded should the case come to trial.

The case comes at a difficult time for Capita and government procurement of technology and business services.

Capita is in the spotlight over its disastrous handling of the Civil Service Pensions Scheme (CSPS), which angered MPs after leaving some of the 1.7-million members struggling to make ends meet as they wait for payments.

Capita apologized for its shortcomings in running the scheme, and pointed to a higher-than-expected backlog of cases from the previous provider.

Capita won the contract for £239 million ($318 million) to build and run the scheme in November 2023.

Problems with the project first came to light in December last year, following reporting by The Register.

The DWP award to Capita was announced in March 2026.