NHS England's £200m ERP replacement misses another deadline as procurement runs 2 years behind schedule
- Reference: 1627900887
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/08/02/nhs_erp_deadline/
- Source link:
The migration of the Oracle financial management system to a cloud-based ERP system, which is now judged a [1]"red" risk, according to the government's own Infrastructure and Projects Authority , was supposed to see tender documents published by the end of July.
Delays had already forced the government to spend £59.2m on [2]a contract extension for its existing system as it ran out of road with the procurement and implementation of a replacement.
[3]
The Integrated Single Financial Environment (ISFE) is currently provided through NHS Share Business Services, a joint venture between the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and French IT services company Sopra Steria. The contract with the supplier was set to end in April 2021.
[4]
[5]
In the tender notice for the contract extension, NHS England said the "current timeline assumes that the tender for the replacement ISFE system will go live toward July of 2021."
No such tender documents have appeared and NHS England has stonewalled The Register's requests for further information for more than a week.
[6]
"The ISFE re-procurement project is a large and complex project which will deliver a replacement for the current service," the document said. "During the planning stages for the reprocurement, it was identified that short term uncertainties regarding Group structure posed significant challenge to finalising a tender specification during 2019 with a review to implementing a replacement service by April 2021. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has meant that the project team and other key colleagues have had to focus their resource on keeping critical business processes running and work on the procurement of the new contract has inevitably been delayed."
But the project was already running more than one year late before the pandemic hit.
In 2018, [7]a prior information notice , designed to gather intelligence from suppliers before the formal competition started, priced the project at £200m and said that a contract notice would be published by 18 March 2019.
[8]
It said that the ISFE system and service "enables group entities to complete their financial year end and other duties including accounting and payment to other [NHS] Commissioning organisations, NHS provider organisation, GP practices, opticians, pharmacies, dentists as well as suppliers."
[9]Ex-health secretary said 'vast majority' were 'onside' with GP data grab. Consumer champion Which? reckons 20 million don't even know what it is
[10]NHS contracts for document storage, digitisation three years after paperless deadline
[11]NHS England staff voice concerns about access controls on US spy-tech firm Palantir's COVID-19 data store
[12]When free and open source actually means £6k-£8k per package: Atos's £136m contract with NHS England
"The current platform holds the financial information and is the reporting and transactional environment for the annual group revenue and case resource of circa £110bn," it said.
However, NHS England published another [13]prior information notice in October 2020, this time proposing a replacement with cloud-based software to support 450 separate organisations, including all elements of the NHS in England and more than 1.7 million employees.
It's not only solid evidence of procurement which is absent from the ERP system at the core of the UK's health economy. The [14]2020 Prior Information Notice also said an outline business case would be ready by January 2021.
NHS England has refused to answer The Register's questions about whether the business case is ready.
Meanwhile, the current system is already on the move to a new platform. The ISFE runs on Oracle 12.2. NHS Shared Business Services said it had commenced the move to Oracle Fusion Cloud Financials. "The first stage of this is due to be completed in September 2021, when we will then look for further feedback and engagement from NHS organisations," it said.
NHS Shared Business Services does not only support NHS England’s financial systems. It offers a range of procurement, HR and financial services BPO to the NHS, with clients including more than one hundred NHS providers and arms-length bodies.
The report by the Infrastructure and Projects Authority said the project to procure the next-generation ISFE as a managed service provision including a financial and accounting system is at "red" risk of going live by April 2024.
For clarity, when the government body which reports to the Cabinet Office and the Treasury says red, it means that the "successful delivery of the project appears to be unachievable." Stumbling blocks might include "project definition, schedule, budget, quality and/or benefits delivery, which... do not appear to be manageable or resolvable."
With £110bn NHS spending rolling through the system, that might make an interesting in-tray item for newly appointed NHS England CEO Amanda Pritchard. ®
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[1] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1002310/IPA_AR2021_final_14Jul.pdf
[2] https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/008081-2021?origin=SearchResults&p=1
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/databases&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YQgWtZ4u-tpNtzOyZnfwFwAAAA0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/databases&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YQgWtZ4u-tpNtzOyZnfwFwAAAA0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/databases&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YQgWtZ4u-tpNtzOyZnfwFwAAAA0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/databases&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YQgWtZ4u-tpNtzOyZnfwFwAAAA0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:530176-2018:TEXT:EN:HTML
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/databases&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YQgWtZ4u-tpNtzOyZnfwFwAAAA0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/29/which_gpdpr_survey/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/13/three_years_after_nhs_missed/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/05/palantir_covid_data_store/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/29/atos_nhs_foss_charges/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2020/10/15/nhs_looks_to_the_market/
[14] https://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:486717-2020:TEXT:EN:HTML&src=0
[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: As always
What an utter mess
Appreciate the need to document for tender
I appreciate the need to document the request for tender, but in this scenario it’s like they’ve gone too far.
They clearly need a cloud platform that can perform certain functions. I’d probably stop close to that and then broadly specify the functions.
When I studied databases at uni my impression was that 1 giant db system could run a whole organisation, of course when appropriately carved up and secured.
I continue to not comprehend why multiple separate db’s are needed to make a system.
Re: Appreciate the need to document for tender
I think the need for detailed specification comes from the IR35. To keep sub-contractors outside of IR35 they need to have exact specification of what needs to be delivered, with milestones and all that.
As soon as there is any control during the contract, it may tip it in scope and thus make it financially not viable for the sub-contractor.
Keeping everything out of scope is extremely bureaucratic and waterfallesque.
Re: Appreciate the need to document for tender
tip pc: "When I studied databases at uni"
Well, you are obviously over-qualified for a management position, having actually studied a relevant subject at University level.
Re: Appreciate the need to document for tender
If the contract was just to supply a big database, it would be simples. The issue is that the contract isn't for a database but an application and that's a whole different ocean of fish.
Re: Appreciate the need to document for tender
I thought the contract was for a solution that achieved certain goals and often specifies how those goals are met.
IPA
The UK Government has an Infrastructure and Projects Authority?
I never knew. I wonder who is on it and what experience they have of delivering complicated and large projects of any kind on time and within budget.
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/infrastructure-and-projects-authority
Scroll down for the board level members. They all seem to be eminent people, but only one admits to having a technical degree or background:
"Matthew has an M.A from Cambridge University." (Which basically means that he got a B.A., waited a year and then paid to upgrade to an M.A., like my dad did years ago.).
"Alison is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers."
"A Chartered Surveyor, Jon spent the early part of his career delivering major infrastructure projects, before going on to lead major businesses for two of the fastest growing infrastructure PLCs in the UK."
"Helen has a degree in Economics from Nottingham University and an MA in European Economics from the College of Europe"
"Stephen has more than 35 years of experience in social and economic infrastructure projects."
"Fiona graduated from the Government Major Projects Leadership Academy in 2014."
"Rod has worked at executive board level within global professions, particularly legal."
And the chairman: "At Shell, Nick was accountable for managing how projects were delivered and a variety of significant improvement programmes."
Strangely none of their biographies lists actually delivering 'stuff', but I'm sure they are all excellent people.
Re: IPA
“ The UK Government has an Infrastructure and Projects Authority?”
It’s worse than that
The uk had a proper agency that defined how computing should be done
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Computer_and_Telecommunications_Agency
Came out with gems like ssadm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structured_systems_analysis_and_design_method
Amongst many other practical & useful methods.
Re: IPA
Alex Bourne used to run a pub near Matt Hancock and has his personal contact details
[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/26/matt-hancock-former-neighbour-won-covid-test-kit-contract-after-whatsapp-message]
Correction
First paragraph: "NHS England has missed the latest deadline in the procurement of a £200m replacement ERP system responsible for managing the UK's annual health spending"
Presumably that should be "England's annual health spending" since the deadline was missed by NHS England.
Re: Correction
Wins/good news: England.
Fails/Bad news: UK.
Changing requirements part way though?
What could go wrong?
Nice Work if you can get it ..... Promise the Stars and Supply Diddly Squat for a Small Fortune.
Obviously, surely, someone somewhere has said targets are achievable, for such is what gets the money to flow to changing systems developers/leaders. The fact that they are not yet achieved and be deemed rank unachievable are surely indicative of a monumental fraud by those agents/shyster/hucksters/snake oil salesmen/call them what you will, unable to deliver what they promised, and something by all accounts here on El Reg is most probably still being actively perpetrated and perpetuated.
Is that typical of such public contract work in the UK? And is it invariably unpunishable with no one suffering any meaningful punitive penalty for responsible accountability?
One imagines that must make such a farce a very popular and lucrative activity amongst the less than honest and wholesome, and a right rotten blight and crippling blot on any landscape and many a vision. That it be allowed is a fool weakness which invites relentless exploitation.
Just fucking hire 5,000 staff on 40k, give them all calculators, and ditch the computer system.
As always
NHS IT when certain directors and management are involved are always bollocks.
Moved from Dell kit to HP kit one year, with no consultation with the other trusts and turns out 2 directors had, had a trip to Silicon Valley to "test the kit" paid for by HP. Then came back with two "Gifts" which we all pointed out where bribes but they denied it.
Then there was, allegedly, the Fujitsu contract that they paid for but then kept wanting more options, (paraphrasing) "Can we add this, can you put this in, add that, and this" Fujitsu said "That wasn't part of the deal, need more added then pay us more money" they said "Oh no, we can't do that" and kept changing the NHS project manager and which point Fujitsu, allegedly said that's enough, we're out. And pulled out of the contract, at which point the trust sued.
Never found out what happened with that but, have now just discovered the story
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-28464002