Affiniti secures healthy PFI deals with hospitals
Integrator keeps firm hold on public sector with voice and data management contracts
Affiniti has bagged a £67.6m, 37-year Private Finance Initiative (PFI) deal with two new hospitals in north Staffordshire.
The integrator will assume management of the voice and data systems of the University Hospital of North Staffordshire and Haywood Hospital from December.
Paul Renucci, managing director of Affiniti, claimed the long duration of the contract underscored the integrator’s public sector prowess.
“This demonstrates we are regarded as a major player they see us as able to deliver services in the future as well as today,” he said.
“There is a lot of complexity in the contract and it requires an understanding of PFI. We have experience of PFI and understand it very well.”
Tom Kelly, UK managing director of rival Logicalis, said: “The degree of risk in PFIs is too high, so it doesn’t excite us. For a firm to get its money back it’s a commitment over 37 years and the public sector is littered with disasters.”
Stuart Muirhead, business development director at another rival Phoenix IT, said: “The public sector is still a fertile hunting ground for many IT companies.”
Ironically, the win comes a month after Hull City Council offloaded its remaining 30 per cent stake in parent Kingston, severing any ownership ties Affiniti had with the public sector.
Renucci said the share issue was four times oversubscribed. “There is a real appetite out there in the market for Kingston,” he claimed.
Affiniti has also won the contract to design and implement communications systems for two new hospitals in the Stoke-on-Trent area.