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Expanding empire: Ratan Tata, the chairman of Tata Consultancy Services, is part of the steel-to-tea Tata conglomerate.

BRITISH outsourcing firm Capita said on Wednesday (October 3) it had lost out on a new government contract to run criminal records checks after the Home Office pursued talks with a rival supplier, said to be Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).

The trade union representing staff under Capita's existing contract said the coalition government is likely to award the deal to TCS, part of India's salt-to-steel conglomerate Tata Group. Analysts also expected TCS to get the nod.

Capita has run the UK's Criminal Records Bureau disclosure service for over 10 years under a deal worth around £400m ($650m), and had hoped to secure a similar contract to support the replacement Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

"Capita is disappointed not to have been selected by the Home Office to support DBS," it said in a statement on Wednesday. "We will now work with the CRB, and its new partner, to enable the smooth transfer of the service."

The Home Office would not make any comment on the contract supplier, only confirming in a statement that the deal had yet to be awarded by the coalition government.

While there was no immediate response from TCS, analysts at Shore Capital said they believed the new supplier may be Tata, which already has operations based in Liverpool, from where the existing contract is primarily delivered.

The DBS is the merger of the Criminal Records Bureau, which helps employers make safer recruitment decisions, and the Independent Safeguarding Authority, which prevents unsuitable people from working with vulnerable groups, including children.

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