Scope
Reference
20033
Description
The Dental Web EDI System facilitates the submission of electronic claims by HSC Dentists across the internet in XML format to send to the new FPPS system (the backend payment processing system) and receive response from FPPS in EDIFACT format. BSO FPS currently receives 90% of all Dental claims via this method. It is a critical BSO application.
EDI is a two-way message broker system between each independent dental practice management system and BSO Dental payments system. This system processes in excess of 140,000 transactions per month. If this service fails, Dental practices will not be paid and the BSO will fail in its statutory obligations as well as suffering serious reputational damage.
The WebEDI application is written in VB6 and makes use of .NET Framework 2.0 C# components; both of these technologies are no longer supported. VB6 was out of support in 2008 and .NET Framework 2.0 was out of support in 2017. This currently means that no application changes can be made without first porting the application to supported technologies together with an ever-increasing risk that these out-of-date technologies could be subject to cyber-attack. The continued use of an unsupported technology framework poses an increasing risk to the organisation.
This change is to migrate the WebEDI application to .NET 8 which will resolve the above concerns and minimise the risk of attack.
Contract 1
Supplier
Contract value
- £135,779 excluding VAT
- £162,934.80 including VAT
Above the relevant threshold
Earliest date the contract will be signed
1 April 2025
Contract dates (estimated)
- 10 April 2025 to 31 January 2027
- 1 year, 9 months, 21 days
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
BSO are seeking to rely on Schedule 5, Section 5, in relation to the public contract:
(a) due to a particular supplier having intellectual property rights or other exclusive rights, only that supplier can supply the goods, services or works required.
Civica, are the incumbent contractors and own the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) on the software for Dental EDI web server in NI - they also provide this service for NHS England/Wales who use the same system.
Supplier
CIVICA UK LIMITED
- Companies House: 01628868
- Public Procurement Organisation Number: PCMJ-9641-QWWM
Southbank Central, 30 Stamford Street
London
SE1 9LQ
United Kingdom
Email: BidSupport@civica.co.uk
Website: https://www.civica.com/en-gb/
Region: UKI44 - Lewisham and Southwark
Small or medium-sized enterprise (SME): No
Voluntary, community or social enterprise (VCSE): No
Contract 1
Contracting authority
Regional Business Services Organisation, Procurement and Logistics Service
- Public Procurement Organisation Number: PWNJ-1991-NGDW
77 Boucher Crescent
Belfast
BT12 6HU
United Kingdom
Email: etenders@hscni.net
Region: UKN06 - Belfast
Organisation type: Public authority - central government
Devolved regulations that apply: Northern Ireland