CSC to explain failure to reach NHS agreement

Lorenzo programme still on hold while company hosts teleconference to explain lack of progress

CSC, one of the suppliers to the disastrous NHS National Programme for IT (NPfIT), is hosting a Wall Street conference call at 10pm tonight UK time (5pm EST) to explain why it has still failed to reach agreement with the NHS about redefining the contractual relationship between the two parties.

The teleconference is timed to begin once the US markets have closed for the day.

The NHS and CSC intended to finalise a binding agreement by 31 March - an agreement noted in CSC's SEC filings - but discussions "have not yet been concluded and are still ongoing at this time", according to an announcement by the company.

While "progress continues", in CSC's words, the NHS Lorenzo programme remains at a standstill until 1 June 2012.

While "progress continues", in CSC's words, the NHS Lorenzo programme remains at a standstill until 1 June 2012.

The CSC statement adds: "There can be no assurance that CSC and the NHS will enter into the interim agreement."

At this stage, it is unclear what the implications might be of any failure to secure the deal for either the NHS, or for CSC's management or investors. In a conference call to analysts in May 2011, CSC CEO Michael Laphen linked CSC's guidance figures to the successful conclusion of negotiations with the NHS.

• CSC was slammed by Whitehall's Public Accounts Committee in 2011 over its handling of some aspects of the NHS IT Programme.