UKvisas chooses MoFo for outsourcing advice

Morrison & Foerster's (MoFo) London office has bagged a lead role advising the UK Government on a £297m outsourcing project.

The firm advised UKvisas, a directorate run jointly by the Home Office and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, on its contract with Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) and VFS Global to outsource visa application processing.

Alistair Maughan, global outsourcing head at MoFo, said PA Consulting helped win the mandate for the firm.

"We owe something of a debt to PA Consulting. They were asked what law firms they would recommend and they put our name forward," he said.

MoFo has previously worked with PA Consulting on outsourcing projects for the Inland Revenue.

MoFo put together a 10-lawyer team, which included employment and tax experts.

UKvisas will outsource visa application processing for 75 countries and will work with CSC and VFS Global to set up new visa application centres in 52 countries.

CSC was advised in-house by David Gray and Mike Morris and will cover the Americas, Europe and North Africa.

Nabarro partner James Snape and assistant Katherine Calder advised VFS Global, which will cover Asia, East and West Africa and the former Soviet Union.