NHS to operate on IT procurement

Expected changes to process spell uncertain future for resellers

Resellers in the health sector face an uncertain future as the NHS plans to change the way it buys IT equipment.

Since Richard Granger was named director general of NHS IT, with the responsibility to revamp the Service's use of technology, healthcare resellers have been braced for changes.

One expected change is the appointment of a small number of large IT suppliers that will control the supply of IT equipment to different parts of the NHS.

Details of the new plan are expected later this month. In December, Granger said: "It is obvious that a major concern is the need to streamline the whole process, and this will happen."

David Cheesman, director of special projects and operations at healthcare reseller WCI, said contracts had become tough to win because of the uncertainty about the expected changes.

"Getting IT implementations approved is tough at the moment because of imminent changes," he said.

"For example, the NHS needs to use the skills of the industry so it is going to name 'prime contractors' to take over responsibility for procuring IT."

This means there will be new players to deal with and new methods of funding, which is causing uncertainty.

However, VAR Civica is still prospering in the public sector, and has won a £19.4m Microsoft Enterprise software licensing deal with NHS England.

Steve Reynolds, managing director of Civica, said the firm had really benefited from the government's GCat IT scheme.

"This is our second year in GCat. Last year we won £25m of business. This year we have already won £19.4m," he said.

The one-year deal is part of a three-year agreement between the NHS Information Authority and Civica, a software and services VAR (CRN, 29 April), to license and implement Microsoft's Enterprise Agreement.

But Reynolds warned: "The government is changing its strategy on health and it is bidding for only about five big IT suppliers."