NHS IT chief refutes withdrawal claims

Speculation that unrealistically strict contract terms were behind Lockheed Martin's withdrawal from the bidding for the NHS National Programme are 'inaccurate' and 'unhelpful', says NHS IT director general Richard Granger.

In an exclusive interview with Computing, Granger scotched rumours that the US defence giant withdrew because potential suppliers were expected to take responsibility for the accuracy of information, such as blood sample data, being input by NHS staff.

'Let me set the record straight because that is inaccurate and unhelpful to everybody,' he said.

'We are asking prospective suppliers to sign up to contracts which mandate their performance without equivocation around the care and security of patient data.

'Clearly that data is not entered by them, and we would not be looking to ask a supplier to warranty the accuracy of data entered by people for whom they are not directly responsible.

'But I would hold them responsible for the corruption of data that has been entered and we are seeking intervention rights and some consequences for failure to take seriously and perform against this requirement,' he added.

Granger also denied that the conditions of the deal were so harsh Lockheed stood not to make any money for three to four years.

'There is no circumstance in which the return for prospective suppliers would be negative 36 to 48 months after the execution of these agreements - that is just plain wrong,' he said.

'I have a sufficiency of data on the market appetite for our terms and conditions to entirely refute the assertion that the arrangements we are seeking are inappropriate or unacceptable to the supplier community.

'Historically there have been a number of occasions where UK subsidiaries have not had the full authorisation of the global body for particular procurements.'

Services supplier EDS was dropped from the competition for the programme's electronic booking application at the end of August to streamline the procurement process.

The contract, due to be signed next month, will now go to either Fujitsu Services or SchlumbergerSema.

EDS is still in the running for one of the much larger contracts to manage regional implementations.

Who is left in the running?

Local Service Provider contracts to for regional implementation:

Accenture

BT

Cerner

CGEY

CSC

Fujitsu

IBM

Patient First Alliance led by Jarvis

Plexus Care led by EDS and Logica CMG

SchlumbergerSema

National Application Service Provider contract to create a central data spine to underpin local electronic records systems:

BT

IBM

National ebooking application:

Fujitsu

SchlumbergerSema