Desktop21 framework pioneer lifts the lid on groundbreaking procurement deal

Earlier this month the Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health NHS Trust (BEH-MHT) became the first public-sector body to appoint an approved supplier to provide managed IT services under the government's latest Dekstop21 procurement framework.

Desktop21 (Desktop for the 21st Century) is a collaborative procurement process outlined by government procurement management agency Buying Solutions (formerly OGCbuying.solutions and part of the Office of Government Commerce) and the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), which is designed to provide public-sector organisations with approved standards and suppliers for the delivery of desktop computer services to their staff.

BEH-MHT has opted for HP Enterprise Services, one of only three suppliers alongside Fujitsu and Atos Origin to make the grade. It will provide not only desktop, laptop and tablet PCs to around 2,000 staff spread across more than 30 sites in north London, but also smartphones, print, network and helpdesk services. 

The Trust's head of IT, Louise Felstead, was tightlipped about the value of the seven-year contract (up for review after five years) or where expected cost savings will come from during its course, but she insists that it will help to meet central government targets on cost reduction within the NHS.

No redundancies are planned, but some existing staff will be transferred to HP under Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment (TUPE) regulations.

"That information is commercially sensitive but the way we have planned and orchestrated the agreement is that we will achieve substantial savings over the term of the contract that are in excess of any savings we would have made had we stayed doing what we were doing," she said.

"The bills will not go up, they will do down, and there are opportunities for other Trusts to join the Desktop21 initiative [for cost savings from shared infrastructure too]."

Desktop services were previously provided by the individual stakeholders and London Boroughs that made up the area's shared primary care trust (PCT).

The BEH-MHT seized the opportunity for what it called a "timely" refresh of its IT estate to support mobile and remote working initiatives, which also fitted in with the changes that Secretary of State for Health Andrew Lansley is attempting to make within NHS service provision under the proposed terms of the Health and Social Care Bill.

"There are a number of things driving our move towards the Desktop21 agreement, including the Lansley options, and meeting our needs in terms of our savings agenda and the dynamic changes that the NHS needs to improve efficiency," said Felstead.

"The objective is to have a fully managed service: our core business is not IT and this is one of the things I was brought in from the private sector to do. The NHS needs to go to the professionals and experts who know and whose core business is IT."

Desktop21 has been criticised for endorsing just three large suppliers and locking out other companies from a controversial procurement framework, which will last until 2014.

But Felstead insists that other manufacturers and service providers are not necessarily excluded for the contract's duration.

"The way we have done the deal is that if HP is unable to supply the required software, hardware and services we will look at other suppliers," she said.

HP will provide the fixed and mobile network (the latter in partnership with Ericsson), extending existing wireless LANs (WLANs) in some locations and providing new hotspots in others.

"We are moving towards unified communications with smartphones for staff meeting patients at the point of care," said Felstead.

"We would not want to specify at this stage exactly which devices we will be using – though HP itself has its own touchpad and slate [tablet PC] devices – what is important at this stage is that we will work long into the future using the latest technologies."

The IT revamp will begin on 6 June, with desktop services at the main BEH-MHT sites transformed in the first few months. Sensitive patient records and clinical data will be migrated from servers in various locations across the Trust and centralised in HP's Wynyard datacentre near Newcastle.

"Obviously [data] security is critical and we will use encryption and secure networks in line with government rules and methodologies already out there," said Felstead.