NHS England spends £8M to extend Microsoft deals by a month
(2023/05/18)
- Reference: 1684414445
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/05/18/nhs_england_extends_microsoft_deals/
- Source link:
Updated England's health service has stuck two deals to extend its Microsoft licensing terms for just one month at a cost of around £8 million ($9.9 million).
Reseller deals with Insight Direct and Bytes were set to come to a close at the end of April, but both have been extended until the end of May to allow more time for replacement agreements to be put in place.
The contract with Insight Direct is a £3.47 million uplift to a £77.8 million ($96.8 million) deal launched in 2020 covering Microsoft products including Office 365 and Power BI, and was signed on April 26, [1]according to a procurement notice .
[2]
A similar one with Bytes relates to a variety of Windows products and bags NHS England a month extension till May 31, at a cost of £4.6 million on an overall licensing agreement worth £163.1 million ($203 million), [3]another notice said .
[4]
[5]
The extensions may reflect the complexity of renegotiating licenses upon which the NHS is utterly dependent. Observers will question whether the NHS couldn't have got a better value for the £8 million extensions, given that they appear to have been negotiated in haste.
NHS England has been contacted for comment.
[6]NHS England considered using Palantir tech to manage strike disruption
[7]UK consortium bid for NHS data platform falls at first hurdle
[8]NHS threatened with legal action over £480m patient data platform
[9]Tech job vacancies hamper England's digital health plans
Microsoft, on the other hand, may feel it was a good day at the Office. It has imposed a [10]salary freeze for full-time employees this year , owing to a "competitive environment while also facing global macroeconomic uncertainties," according to CEO Satya Nadella.
Of course, Nadella's own remuneration is set by the board. Last year it was revealed that [11]he was getting a 10 percent pay rise to reach $55 million . Or more than one thousand times the salary of the average NHS nurse.
[12]
In the NHS, negotiations over nurses and doctors' pay continue in a [13]process fraught with industrial action . Unions claim real-term pay has fallen between 8 and 26 percent, and nurses recently voted to reject a 5 percent pay rise.
[14]Estimates suggest NHS England will post a combined deficit of around £600 million ($747 million) on a budget of around £160 billion ($199 billion) for the current financial year while Microsoft's net income for 2022 was $72.7 billion on revenue of $198 billion. ®
Updated to add:
An NHS spokesperson said: "These national agreements to use Microsoft products have already saved the NHS hundreds of millions of pounds in recent years. They have been extended to allow extra time to complete a full procurement process which will also save money in the long-term for taxpayers."
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[1] https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/56eb9de3-d037-4d07-8194-f4cd67752435
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZGZLp-tyXLJHdXighB6tXwAAABU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/97763ade-3a87-4e9d-8a48-db5e8fc9f007
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZGZLp-tyXLJHdXighB6tXwAAABU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZGZLp-tyXLJHdXighB6tXwAAABU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/17/nhs_england_palantir_tech_optout/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/17/uk_consortium_bid_for_nhs/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/17/nhs_threatened_with_legal_action/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/22/nhs_tech_job_vacancies/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/11/microsoft_pay_freeze/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/28/microsoft_nadella_2022_pay_karma/
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZGZLp-tyXLJHdXighB6tXwAAABU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/may/13/nurses-union-head-calls-for-double-figures-pay-rise-in-england-ahead-of-strike-ballot
[14] https://www.hsj.co.uk/finance-and-efficiency/systems-to-end-year-half-a-billion-in-deficit-nhse-admits/7034173.article#:~:text=NHS%20England%20has%20admitted%20that,planned%20budgets%20for%202022%2D23
[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Reseller deals with Insight Direct and Bytes were set to come to a close at the end of April, but both have been extended until the end of May to allow more time for replacement agreements to be put in place.
The contract with Insight Direct is a £3.47 million uplift to a £77.8 million ($96.8 million) deal launched in 2020 covering Microsoft products including Office 365 and Power BI, and was signed on April 26, [1]according to a procurement notice .
[2]
A similar one with Bytes relates to a variety of Windows products and bags NHS England a month extension till May 31, at a cost of £4.6 million on an overall licensing agreement worth £163.1 million ($203 million), [3]another notice said .
[4]
[5]
The extensions may reflect the complexity of renegotiating licenses upon which the NHS is utterly dependent. Observers will question whether the NHS couldn't have got a better value for the £8 million extensions, given that they appear to have been negotiated in haste.
NHS England has been contacted for comment.
[6]NHS England considered using Palantir tech to manage strike disruption
[7]UK consortium bid for NHS data platform falls at first hurdle
[8]NHS threatened with legal action over £480m patient data platform
[9]Tech job vacancies hamper England's digital health plans
Microsoft, on the other hand, may feel it was a good day at the Office. It has imposed a [10]salary freeze for full-time employees this year , owing to a "competitive environment while also facing global macroeconomic uncertainties," according to CEO Satya Nadella.
Of course, Nadella's own remuneration is set by the board. Last year it was revealed that [11]he was getting a 10 percent pay rise to reach $55 million . Or more than one thousand times the salary of the average NHS nurse.
[12]
In the NHS, negotiations over nurses and doctors' pay continue in a [13]process fraught with industrial action . Unions claim real-term pay has fallen between 8 and 26 percent, and nurses recently voted to reject a 5 percent pay rise.
[14]Estimates suggest NHS England will post a combined deficit of around £600 million ($747 million) on a budget of around £160 billion ($199 billion) for the current financial year while Microsoft's net income for 2022 was $72.7 billion on revenue of $198 billion. ®
Updated to add:
An NHS spokesperson said: "These national agreements to use Microsoft products have already saved the NHS hundreds of millions of pounds in recent years. They have been extended to allow extra time to complete a full procurement process which will also save money in the long-term for taxpayers."
Get our [15]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/56eb9de3-d037-4d07-8194-f4cd67752435
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZGZLp-tyXLJHdXighB6tXwAAABU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/97763ade-3a87-4e9d-8a48-db5e8fc9f007
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZGZLp-tyXLJHdXighB6tXwAAABU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZGZLp-tyXLJHdXighB6tXwAAABU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/17/nhs_england_palantir_tech_optout/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/17/uk_consortium_bid_for_nhs/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/17/nhs_threatened_with_legal_action/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/22/nhs_tech_job_vacancies/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/11/microsoft_pay_freeze/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/28/microsoft_nadella_2022_pay_karma/
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offprem/paasiaas&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZGZLp-tyXLJHdXighB6tXwAAABU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/may/13/nurses-union-head-calls-for-double-figures-pay-rise-in-england-ahead-of-strike-ballot
[14] https://www.hsj.co.uk/finance-and-efficiency/systems-to-end-year-half-a-billion-in-deficit-nhse-admits/7034173.article#:~:text=NHS%20England%20has%20admitted%20that,planned%20budgets%20for%202022%2D23
[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Long Term Solution
Yet Another Anonymous coward
How could the NHS offer cutting edge surgery without PowerPoint?
Re: Long Term Solution
3arn0wl
Couldn't agree more.
Burn rate
Pete 2
> a cost of around £8 million
In perspective, with a total budget this year of £180 billion (or 493 million a day) that represents about 23 minutes of NHS time.
Peter-Waterman1
I mean Offices is really not great, they dont invest in it and its a money making machine. Everyone just defaults to it, and Microsoft laugh all the way to the bank.
Nadella deserves it!
SupportHell
Nadella is clearly doing 1000× the work of an NHS nurse, obviously he deserves 1000× the money! He clearly works 42,000 hour work weeks
Maybe not Linux but Office maybe ditchable
CorwinX
Switching to Linux would be very tricky and massively expensive.
It's not about Office - it's about all the specialist apps they use.
For example: you get an X-Ray or CT scan and 30 secs later the doc is looking at it on a hi-res monitor using a custom-built Windows app.
What they should threaten is to move to something like LibreOffice for everything back-office.
That would maybe be achievable and would be a viable threat.
Re: Maybe not Linux but Office maybe ditchable
CorwinX
Though on second thoughts... there is the recent article about some bits of the NHS still running on fax machines!
Perhaps the thought of changing *anything* would put the higher-ups in their own coranary units.
Long Term Solution
To fix the problem in the long term, we need to dump MS. A previous negotiating "tactic" was to pretend we were considering Linux. Perhaps we should do it for real?