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BT is in talks with the NHS to takeover the workload of Fujitsu, following the Japanese IT contractor's abrupt departure from the department’s £12bn computer programme. For already being engaged in the nationwide scheme, the telco, alongside CSC, is seen as the quickest and therefore likeliest technology supplier to win Fujitsu’s £996m contract. However, the longer the IT programme is “left in limbo, the more likely it is that skilled staff will be lost to other sectors,” wrote Ovum analyst Tola Sargeant. Ominous, then, as it will take a ‘few months’ before Fujitsu’s replacement is decided, Gordon Hextall, a director of Connecting for Health told a committee of MPs in June. Choosing an existing contractor, he implied, like BT or CSC, with known products and prices was better than searching afresh for contractors; a process which ‘would take time.’ Although this would ensure a quicker deployment, since it avoids a fresh procurement process, Sargeant believes such a route would “seriously damage” supplier confidence in the ASCC. Set up so the project’s new IT requirements can be met through open competition, the Additional Supply Capability and Capacity (ASCC) framework is one many expect would now come into play. Ovum believes that securing a contractor to acquire Fujitsu’s work – delivering electronic patient records to trusts in the south of England – is the biggest issue facing NHS IT today. “Whichever supplier - or combination of suppliers - does eventually take over from Fujitsu, it will face many of the same challenges that led the Japanese firm to part company with,” the NHS, the analyst added. “The biggest challenge will be striking the right balance between local demands for the tailoring of software and the ideal of standard systems across the NHS in the South. “As Fujitsu found, without a certain level of standardisation, upgrading and integrating systems becomes more difficult and costs escalate. Any supplier bidding to replace Fujitsu should be doing so with their eyes wide open and will expect to be suitably compensated.” Jul 7, 2008 Email this article Printer friendly page Previous Page
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