It is legit. Government Departments don't have the IT expertise to develop their own computer systems or websites, so it is common, and has been for a number of years, to put this work out to tender and contract. Examples: 1. I worked for a Government Department on procurement, and a secure online tendering, tender evaluation and contract award service we used was developed and owned by QineteQ, and was used under licence from QinetiQ. 2. the development and management of the Jobcentre Plus Universal Jobmatch (the website that customers use to search for vacancies, etc) was contracted out to Monster.co.uk in 2012 and runs until 2016. 3. HP are contracted to manage the DWP IT system (hardware and software), and supply all of the desktops, laptops, printers, etc. Kainos are one of the companies that the UK Government have contracted with to develop and manage online services for a number of Departments. See: https://www.kainos.com/our-work/digital-services/ Aside from that the link I gave is for the Beta service (which is currently undergoing an evaluation period), and the link in the second post - https://www.gov.uk/check-mot-history-vehicle - states the service is unavailable (presumably because of the Beta site).