Scope
Reference
DAC20001
Description
In June 2008, the Electronic Prescribing and Eligibility System (EPES) went live. The objective of the project was to capture prescription information from Community Pharmacies into a central EPES Database. This system was introduced to speed up pharmacy re-payments, allow for closer scrutiny of the prescribing and dispensing process, and reduce lost income through patients falsely claiming to be in receipt of a qualifying Social Security benefit.
Following its successful launch, EPES was extended to support Dental and Ophthalmic claims processing, the DOP system. This DAC will ensure continuity of services for the Family Practitioner System Team.
Failure to provision the extended support places BSO at serious risk of an application failure from which we would be unable to recover from. Contractor payments of approximately £576m per annum would be defaulted on and there would also be a risk of fraud as it would be impossible to process prescriptions and estimate payments manually.
DXC Technology will support the EPES systems for BSO. The scope of this Contract includes:
• Planning and project management.
• Procurement and support of 8 new workstations and scanners.
• Assistance from DXC and Kodak Alaris to setup new workstations with the Kodak Alaris Kodak Info Input scanning software.
• Health checks.
• Perform renewal of the existing labor support contract.
• Extension of Kodak support contract
• Recompile of code to make it supportable.
• Upgrade to Windows 11.
£1,080,186 has been previously directed awarded to DXC for support, maintenance, and upgrade works to support the EPES system. It is our intention to complete a further Direct Award to the value of £5,500,000.
Contract 1. EPES, CFU and Ophthalmic applications Support, Upgrade and Hardware Refresh
Supplier
Contract value
- £6,580,186.27 excluding VAT
- £7,896,223.52 including VAT
Above the relevant threshold
Earliest date the contract will be signed
31 March 2025
Contract dates (estimated)
- 1 April 2025 to 31 December 2026
- Possible extension to 31 December 2030
- 5 years, 9 months
Description of possible extension:
This DAC is to allow support to be provided until systems can be replaced. This support cannot be provided by any other supplier as DXC have the exclusive rights to the software.
BSO ITS wish to enter into a one year Contract with the option to extend for a further four x one year extensions. The ePharmacy Programme was supposed to provide replacement systems for EPES, but this has been significantly delayed due to budgetary restrictions.
The procurement of replacement systems is likely to be begin in 2026 with a proposed implementation date of quarter three in the Financial Year of 2030.
Main procurement category
Services
CPV classifications
- 72000000 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support
Contract locations
- UKN - Northern Ireland
Other information
Conflicts assessment prepared/revised
Yes
Procedure
Procedure type
Direct award
Direct award justification
Single supplier - intellectual property or exclusive rights
DXC are the incumbent contractors and own the Intellectual Property Rights on the software.
Failure to provision the extended support places BSO at serious risk of an application failure from which we would be unable to recover from. Contractor payments of approximately £576m per annum would be defaulted on and there would also be a risk of fraud as it would be impossible to process prescriptions and estimate payments manually.
Supplier
ENTSERV UK LIMITED
- Companies House: 00053419
- Public Procurement Organisation Number: PGCJ-9313-QJLY
Royal Pavilion
Aldershot
GU11 1PZ
United Kingdom
Email: ukitenders@dxc.com
Website: http://dxc.com
Region: UKJ37 - North Hampshire
Small or medium-sized enterprise (SME): No
Voluntary, community or social enterprise (VCSE): No
Contract 1. EPES, CFU and Ophthalmic applications Support, Upgrade and Hardware Refresh
Contracting authority
Business Services Organisation
- Public Procurement Organisation Number: PCQH-8657-NGMT
2 Franklin Street
Belfast
BT2 8DQ
United Kingdom
Email: ITSPMO@hscni.net
Region: UKN06 - Belfast
Organisation type: Public authority - central government
Devolved regulations that apply: Northern Ireland