Redcentric crowned winner on 'vital piece' of HSCN framework

Managed services player wins sole supplier status on the significant N3 replacement

Redcentric has become the sole supplier on a significant contract which forms part of the Health and Social Care Network, which replaces the N3 national private network.

The managed services player completed the paperwork yesterday and as such has now been awarded the HCSN Peering Exchange Services contract, which will run for three years. This section forms part of a wider HSCN operating model, which replaces the N3 programme, which was previously delivered entirely through BT.

Redcentric was unable to comment on the win, but NHS Digital, which ran the procurement, confirmed to CRN that it was the victorious firm.

No details were given about the value of the contract, but paperwork published online prior to yesterday's award shows the deal is expected to be worth around £12m over its lifetime.

"NHS Digital can confirm that Redcentric Solutions has been awarded the Health and Social Care Network (HSCN) Peering Exchange Services contract for three years, following a competitive procurement process," NHS Digital told CRN.

"The Peering Exchange allows the interconnection of multiple supplier networks, enabling HSCN consumers using different network suppliers, to reliably communicate.

"It is a critical component of the HSCN infrastructure and the contract is a significant step forward in establishing an HSCN marketplace of assured network services to drive competition among suppliers, improve consumer choice, support innovation and deliver value for money."

The Peering Exchange contract is effective from 1 February.

Innopsis, a firm aiming to help the government and industry work better together, was approached by NHS Digital to gather views of its members in order to help shape the HSCN.

Innopsis director Michael Bowyer led the firm's involvement with HSCN, and explained to CRN the rationale behind the changes.

"The Peering Exchange is not all of N3, it's a small component of the HCSN," he said. "The Peering Exchange service was designed to allow interconnectivity between all the [providers] delivering the connectivity to the NHS England and Wales user community. It's a vital piece of the operating model."

Since 2010, the government has made bold claims about its efforts to move away from massive, long-term IT deals to multiple, smaller deals with a range of SMEs and bigger firms. Bowyer said that HSCN is a prime example of this, and can save the NHS significant sums of cash.

When asked if splitting one big deal into multiple parts will add more complexity to the process, he said:

"N3 was all BT. HSCN is disaggregated and there will probably be 20 network operators all delivering connectivity to that service. It's true, when you create a multi-vendor market, the service-management arrangement and capabilities need to be very carefully structured. The real benefit is that is stimulates competition and innovation. It will drive through substantial savings for the hard-stretched NHS England and Wales which doesn't have the money to run legacy networks."