Amazon Web Services (AWS) is reportedly the sole remaining bidder for the UK’s HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) £500 million ($649.5m) data center exit tender.

As reported by Computer Weekly, AWS is the only supplier still in the running, despite questions arising around HMRC’s reliance on AWS following the recent impact of an AWS outage on its operations.

The data center exit contract is set to run for ten years and was teased in March 2025. HMRC is seeking a hyperscale partner to manage the “migration of servers from the current on-premise solution to the hyperscaler’s cloud environment.”

While the winner won’t be announced until spring next year, Computer Weekly reports that AWS is the only supplier remaining under consideration, according to “sources with close working knowledge.”

Oracle, Google, IBM, and Microsoft were previously confirmed by HMRC to be participating in the tender process.

The source said: “There were three big providers selected and provisionally down-selected for the tender, which was AWS, IBM, and Google … but IBM has now withdrawn from the process and Google has pulled out, too.”

The sources added that HMRC had pushed back on recommendations from suppliers to adopt a hybrid cloud strategy instead, while Computer Weekly adds that there were concerns that the tender was unfairly biased towards AWS.

Google, AWS, and IBM either declined to comment or did not respond to Computer Weekly’s requests.

HMRC told the publication: “We follow government procurement rules when awarding contracts, ensuring a competitive and fair tender process, and value for money for taxpayers. Once contracts are approved, we publish the details on Contracts Finder for transparency.”

To date, according to the UK government’s Digital Marketplace figures, HMRC has spent some £367.25m ($483.22m) on AWS.

HMRC’s data center exit has been a long time coming. The data centers it currently uses are operated by Fujitsu. Following the scandal surrounding the Post Office’s error-ridden Horizon system (provided by Fujitsu), government departments have been keen to ditch the supplier, and Fujitsu itself said it was suspending bidding for UK government contracts.

Despite this, in June 2025, HMRC signed a £220.3 million ($301.9m) deal with Fujitsu to extend its data center contract with the provider. The department stated that the extension will only apply for a “limited time and strict terms.” HMRC added that the contract is a contingency measure while the data center exit continues. That contract will end in 2028, by which point HMRC aims to have exited the data centers.

The department previously attempted to exit the data centers, contracting IBM for the project with an aimed exit of June 2022.