The health service has appointed BJSS to help deliver upgrades and maintenance for core public online services, including the NHS.uk site, as well as the main app and login service
NHS England has awarded a near-£40m contract for a specialist provider to provide support for core digital platforms – including the health service’s main app and website.
On 1 November, the central national body entered into a two-year agreement with BJSS, a long-standing supplier of digital services to the NHS. Newly published procurement documents reveal that the central focus of this latest contract will be the main NHS.uk website – although other major digital platforms may also be brought in scope of the arrangement.
The contract-award notice says that the deal covers the “delivery of large-scale public facing digital services to support development for NHS.UK and the wider portfolio – which includes the NHS App and Login”.
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Previously released commercial pipeline documents add that, while the main purpose of the engagement is to support NHS.uk, the health service was seeking a partner with the “flexibility to support linked NDC (national digital channels) functions”, such as the NHS App and the Login system that supports it.
Spending via the two-year deal could total £37.5m, the award notice indicates.
The contract is the latest in a series of multimillion-pound NHS agreements won by BJSS – which is headquartered in Leeds, and operates 25 other locations across the rest of the UK, as well as Ireland, Portugal, and the US.
In 2021 the company was awarded a £20m deal to support NHS.uk and the NHS App, as well as an £18 engagement for supporting the delivery of the central Spine platform used to connect 44,000 separate IT systems across 26,000 individual health-service entities.
The following year, BJSS won an £8.5m agreement for supporting NHS Login, in addition to two deals related to GP IT technology systems adding up to a total value of more than £15m.
In 2023, meanwhile, the provider was awarded a £25.6m agreement to provide digital support to the NHS England Cohorting service.