The Single Trade Window (STW) is at the heart of the 2025 UK Border Strategy, published in December 2020. When fully operational it will provide a gateway between businesses and UK border processes and systems, allowing users to meet their import, export and transit obligations by submitting information once, and in one place.

The STW Programme is a cross-government project and priority. All departments and agencies that have a presence at the border are engaged as key delivery partners. The Programme sits in HMRC for delivery purposes. The STW Programme's strategic objectives support the Government's ambition to have the world's most effective border that creates prosperity and enhances security for a global United Kingdom. Cross-departmental working and collaboration are critical in ensuring that vision of STW can be fully realised.

Crucially, the STW is a fundamental enabler for future change at the border. It will deliver a set of technology capabilities that make a range of border policy changes possible that were historically not feasible due to the disparate sources of border data across government.

The STW Programme is seeking a technology delivery partner that can co-design, build, operate and maintain a market leading digital platform for the UK STW. The chosen Supplier will need to work flexibly with the STW Programme and its delivery partners across HMG departments to ensure the service design and delivery of the STW is fit for now and for the future, to enable the range of ambitious border transformations that Government is undertaking. These ambitions include the integration of supply chain data into HMG's border model and ultimately implementation of the Ecosystem of Trust model which HMG is currently piloting with industry.

The Contract with the chosen technical delivery partner will include clear mechanisms that will enable both the Buyer and the Supplier to be responsive to future changes that the Government wishes to implement at the border, supporting the cross-government and cross-nation evolution of the UK border.