Electronic Patient Record System Contract Term

The Contracting Authority is not awarding a new contract. This VEAT notice is in respect of a proposed, interim, short term extension to the term of its current contract with Dedalus for the provision of an electronic patient record system, as a consequence of the unexpected failure of a re-procurement exercise for replacement services and subsequent strategic changes within the NHS.

See sections II.2.4 for further details. This is not a contract opportunity for new services, but rather a formal notification, via this VEAT notice, that the Contracting Authority intends to extend the term of its existing contract with Dedalus for the provision of an electronic patient records (EPR) system for a short period to allow the Contracting Authority time to participate, subject to VI.3(ii), in a second attempt at a joint procurement and implementation of a Shared Electronic Patient Record across the hospitals of the South Cumbria and Lancashire Provider Collaborative Board.

This extension has become necessary following the unexpected failure of an earlier joint re-procurement exercise for replacement services (which had been anticipated the Contracting Authority to have been completed prior to the expiry of the existing contract with Dedalus), as well as strategic changes in the NHS. Notwithstanding the application or otherwise of Regulation 72 of the Public Contract Regulations, the Contracting Authority has no option but to extend the existing contract with Dedalus.

Having given this matter its most careful consideration, it believes the extension period described below to be the shortest period reasonably possible, to permit successful completion of the future re-procurement (having regard to the scope and complexity of the proposed replacement services) and the multiple Contracting Authority participants which will be involved in that process. The term of the existing Dedalus contract will be extended by an initial period of 3 years from 8 July 2025 up to 7 July 2028.

The Contracting Authority will also have optional rights to extend the Term beyond 7 July 2028 by a period or periods of 6 months or more, as a contingency measure (to mitigate the risk of a gap in services should any short term delay in implementation of the replacement services arise). The maximum, potential term of the Call-Off Contract will, therefore, expire no later than midnight on 7 July 2030.

The Contracting Authority currently envisages that the second re-procurement will be conducted through a call-off process using the LPP CDHS Framework agreement (but reserves the right to use any procurement process it may later determine to be the most suitable for its purposes, including open market procurement). Additional information: The existing contract with Dedalus was originally awarded to Computer Science Corporation (CSC) in July 2016 following a competitive award process.

CSC later became DXC Technology and Dedalus acquired the healthcare IT business of DXC Technology (including the contract) in 2021. The first (unsuccessful) joint re-procurement exercise for the Shared Electronic Patient Record (referred to in Section II.2.4 above) was commenced in February 2023.

However, the Trusts determined that no preferred bidder was able to be selected by them and, according, the procurement was abandoned in February 2024. Following a period of reflection and an intervening change in strategy, a new “One LSC” central shared service was established (hosted by East Lancashire Hospitals Trust on behalf of the Provider Collaborative Board) and, as the Contracting Authority has committed to a system strategy of clinical system convergence,, the entire digital team of the Contracting Authority were TUPE-transferred to “One LSC”, in November 2024. .

The above activities and period of transitional change have militated against the Contracting Authority being able to begin a second competitive procurement to date. However, the launch of a Pre-Market Engagement exercise for a Shared EPR is now anticipated in July 2025. To participate in the Pre-Market Engagement exercise, organisations may contact the Contracting Authority for updates regarding the date{s), venue and process regarding the same, when that information becomes available.