UK announces £5bn digital verification system blueprint

This opportunity is not a tender. It is a news article on Identity Week, dated 9 September 2026, about a policy blueprint published by the City of London Corporation for a UK Digital Verification Orchestrator (DVO). The blueprint was developed earlier in the year with government observers, regulators including the Financial Conduct Authority, the law firm Hogan Lovells and the consultancies EY and Collectively Better. It presents digital verification as sovereign critical infrastructure. It projects at least GBP 5 billion in economic benefits by 2031, including GBP 1.8 billion from a secure Digital Verification Service. These figures are projected economic value, not a contract value.

The proposed DVO would connect identity data providers, such as banks, utilities and government bodies, with relying parties that need to verify customers. It would not act as a centralised database of personal data. Instead it would manage metadata, ensure data syntax quality, preserve data integrity in transit and keep immutable, real-time audit trails based on explicit user consent. Users could verify once and reuse their credentials across services such as KYC and customer onboarding, loan applications and fraud prevention, using multi-modal checks and continuous verification.

The DVO Initiative, chaired by Ezechi Britton MBE, is calling for immediate industry consultation. It invites financial institutions, technology providers and regulators to guide the move from design to practical delivery over the next 9 to 12 months. Its recommendations include: time-bound live pilots; clarification of how verifiable credentials operate under existing anti-money laundering rules such as Regulation 28; embedding DVO capabilities in the DSIT framework.

The source names no contracting authority, procurement procedure, lots, contract value, duration, submission deadline, consultation deadline or submission channel. It also publishes no tender documents, selection criteria or award criteria, so no bidder requirements can be listed yet. Still to come are the details of the industry consultation, any live pilots, and any formal procurement that may follow the blueprint. Interested parties should watch for official notices from the City of London Corporation, the DVO Initiative or DSIT.