Contracts could run until 2025

Credit: Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay 

The NHS Test and Trace scheme has signed four long-term contracts for software services and business support that could potentially see more than £100m spent with suppliers Deloitte and Accenture.

The programme, which now forms part of the recently established UK Health Security Agency, used the Technology Services 3 framework to run four competitive tenders for delivery partners.

All four contracts address the need for services offered via the framework’s second lot – dedicated transition and transformation programmes – in addition to three sub-sections of the third lot: operational management; technical management; and application and data management.

Each engagement came into effect on 29 October and lasts for an initial period of 18 months, plus two possible one-year extensions that could take the contracts to an ultimate end date of April 2025.

The first two contracts respectively relate to “platform governance” and “integration delivery” for the digital and management systems that underpin the delivery of both PCR and lateral flow testing services.

The first deal, won by Deloitte, relates to “architectural management and governance” for Test and Trace software platforms customer relationship management vendor Salesforce and integration tools specialist MuleSoft.

The professional services firm has been contracted to provide the “definition and delivery of DevOps capability… technical enablement, continuous improvement and technical debt requirements for the MuleSoft and Salesforce platforms”, according to recently published commercial documents.

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Almost £13m will be spent via the contract during its initial 18-month period, with the overall value potentially swelling to £30.3m if it is extended to its full term.

The second deal, awarded to Accenture, covers the provision of business analysis, as well as software development, support, testing and maintenance services for the technology systems related to the coronavirus testing regime. The contract will be worth at least £10.8m, and possibly as much as £25.4m.

Both the first two deals may involve integration of systems and data related to private testing results, variants of concern, and Covid certification, the contracts indicated.

The third engagement – the largest of the four, with a spending range of £15.7m to £36.9m – covers a similar range of analysis and DevOps services as the second deal, but in this case for the systems that support contact tracing and customer feedback operations of the Test and Trace programme. Deloitte was the successful bidder for this contract.

The fourth and final contract, meanwhile, addresses the need for technology support for systems related to the quarantining of arrivals in the UK, as well as the CRM platform used by UKHSA’s Contain unit – which serves as the “key liaison between local and national government for management of the response to the pandemic”.

That software tool, called FOLK, “allows the central teams within Contain… to record and track their interactions with local authorities”.

Accenture won the deal and is contracted to deliver “digital solutions [that] provide the capability to track and monitor compliance against international travel regulations associated with arrivals from red, amber and green countries”.

An existing tool to monitor the those arriving from nations on the UK’s amber list will be transferred from a legacy environment to a new “strategic architecture”.

The company is also likely to be asked to help deliver “significant new business change projects” that stem from the ongoing pandemic response, as well supporting new products and tools created for UKHSA’s work more broadly.

The public-health agency also expects Accenture to help deliver an “uplift of civil service capability” to ensure the “department’s ability to own and manage the solutions”.

Across the four contracts, a total of £111m could be spent over the next three and a half years: up to £67.2m with Deloitte and £43.9m with Accenture.