Award

EPES, CFU and Ophthalmic applications Support, Upgrade and hardware Refresh

BUSINESS SERVICES ORGANISATION

This public procurement record has 2 releases in its history.

Award

04 Mar 2025 at 12:18

UK6 - Contract Award Notice
Award

04 Mar 2025 at 11:05

UK5 - Transparency Notice
Summary of the contracting process

The Business Services Organisation in Belfast has concluded a direct procurement process for the support, upgrade, and hardware refresh of its Electronic Prescribing and Eligibility System (EPES), CFU, and Ophthalmic applications. The contract, valued at approximately £5,500,000, was awarded to ENTSSERV UK LIMITED (DXC Technology) on 4th March 2025, with the contract period starting on 1st April 2025 and ending on 31st December 2026, extendable up to 31st December 2030. This initiative falls under the services category for IT services, including consulting, software development, and support, with work being carried out primarily in the United Kingdom.

This tender presents significant opportunities for businesses involved in IT services and systems support, especially those specialising in healthcare applications. With a substantial budget allocated for upgrading and maintaining critical healthcare IT infrastructure, companies with expertise in system integration, project management, and support services could find valuable growth opportunities. Furthermore, businesses capable of providing similar specialised IT services might consider positioning themselves for future public contracts given the extensive scope and high stakes associated with maintaining national healthcare IT systems.

Find more tenders on our Open Data Platform.
How relevant is this notice?

D3 Tenders Premium

Win More Public Sector Contracts

AI-powered tender discovery, pipeline management, and market intelligence — everything you need to grow your public sector business.

Start Free Trial Book a Demo
All Features Pricing

Notice Information

Notice Title

EPES, CFU and Ophthalmic applications Support, Upgrade and hardware Refresh

Notice Description

In June 2008, the Electronic Prescribing and Eligibility System (EPES) went live. The objective of the project was to capture prescription information from Community Pharmacies into a central EPES Database. This system was introduced to speed up pharmacy re-payments, allow for closer scrutiny of the prescribing and dispensing process, and reduce lost income through patients falsely claiming to be in receipt of a qualifying Social Security benefit. Following its successful launch, EPES was extended to support Dental and Ophthalmic claims processing, the DOP system. This DAC will ensure continuity of services for the Family Practitioner System Team. Failure to provision the extended support places BSO at serious risk of an application failure from which we would be unable to recover from. Contractor payments of approximately PS576m per annum would be defaulted on and there would also be a risk of fraud as it would be impossible to process prescriptions and estimate payments manually. DXC Technology will support the EPES systems for BSO. The scope of this Contract includes: * Planning and project management. * Procurement and support of 8 new workstations and scanners. * Assistance from DXC and Kodak Alaris to setup new workstations with the Kodak Alaris Kodak Info Input scanning software. * Health checks. * Perform renewal of the existing labor support contract. * Extension of Kodak support contract * Recompile of code to make it supportable. * Upgrade to Windows 11. PS1,080,186 has been previously directed awarded to DXC for support, maintenance, and upgrade works to support the EPES system. It is our intention to complete a further Direct Award to the value of PS5,500,000.

Procurement Information

DXC are the incumbent contractors and own the Intellectual Property Rights on the software. Failure to provision the extended support places BSO at serious risk of an application failure from which we would be unable to recover from. Contractor payments of approximately PS576m per annum would be defaulted on and there would also be a risk of fraud as it would be impossible to process prescriptions and estimate payments manually.

Notice Details

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-h6vhtk-04e93c
Publication Source
Find A Tender Service
Latest Notice
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/007831-2025
Current Stage
Award
All Stages
Award

Procurement Classification

Notice Type
UK6 - Contract Award Notice
Procurement Type
Standard
Procurement Category
Services
Procurement Method
Direct
Procurement Method Details
Direct award
Tender Suitability
Not specified
Awardee Scale
Large

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

CPV Divisions

72 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support

CPV Codes

72000000 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
Not specified
Lots Value
Not specified
Awards Value
£6,580,186 £1M-£10M
Contracts Value
Not specified

Notice Dates

Publication Date
4 Mar 202511 months ago
Submission Deadline
Not specified
Future Notice Date
Not specified
Award Date
4 Mar 202511 months ago
Contract Period
31 Mar 2025 - 31 Dec 2026 1-2 years
Recurrence
Not specified

Notice Status

Tender Status
Complete
Lots Status
Complete
Awards Status
Pending
Contracts Status
Not Specified

Buyer & Supplier

Contracting Authority (Buyer)

Main Buyer
BUSINESS SERVICES ORGANISATION
Contact Name
Not specified
Contact Email
itspmo@hscni.net
Contact Phone
Not specified

Buyer Location

Locality
BELFAST
Postcode
BT2 8DQ
Post Town
Northern Ireland
Country
Northern Ireland
Major Region (ITL 1)
TLN Northern Ireland
Basic Region (ITL 2)
TLN0 Northern Ireland
Small Region (ITL 3)
TLN06 Belfast
Delivery Location
Not specified
Local Authority
Belfast
Electoral Ward
Central
Westminster Constituency
Belfast South and Mid Down

Supplier Information

Number of Suppliers
1
Supplier Name

ENTSERV

Further Information

Notice Documents

Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)

View full OCDS Record for this contracting process

Download

The Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) is a framework designed to increase transparency and access to public procurement data in the public sector. It is widely used by governments and organisations worldwide to report on procurement processes and contracts. 

{
    "tag": [
        "compiled"
    ],
    "id": "ocds-h6vhtk-04e93c-2025-03-04T12:18:50Z",
    "date": "2025-03-04T12:18:50Z",
    "ocid": "ocds-h6vhtk-04e93c",
    "initiationType": "tender",
    "parties": [
        {
            "id": "GB-PPON-PCQH-8657-NGMT",
            "name": "Business Services Organisation",
            "identifier": {
                "scheme": "GB-PPON",
                "id": "PCQH-8657-NGMT"
            },
            "address": {
                "streetAddress": "2 Franklin Street",
                "locality": "Belfast",
                "postalCode": "BT2 8DQ",
                "country": "GB",
                "countryName": "United Kingdom",
                "region": "UKN06"
            },
            "contactPoint": {
                "email": "ITSPMO@hscni.net"
            },
            "roles": [
                "buyer"
            ],
            "details": {
                "classifications": [
                    {
                        "scheme": "UK_CA_TYPE",
                        "id": "publicAuthorityCentralGovernment",
                        "description": "Public authority - central government"
                    },
                    {
                        "scheme": "UK_CA_DEVOLVED_REGULATIONS",
                        "id": "GB-NIR",
                        "description": "Northern Irish devolved regulations apply"
                    }
                ]
            }
        },
        {
            "id": "GB-COH-00053419",
            "name": "ENTSERV UK LIMITED",
            "identifier": {
                "scheme": "GB-COH",
                "id": "00053419"
            },
            "additionalIdentifiers": [
                {
                    "scheme": "GB-PPON",
                    "id": "PGCJ-9313-QJLY"
                }
            ],
            "address": {
                "streetAddress": "Royal Pavilion",
                "locality": "Aldershot",
                "postalCode": "GU11 1PZ",
                "country": "GB",
                "countryName": "United Kingdom",
                "region": "UKJ37"
            },
            "contactPoint": {
                "email": "ukitenders@dxc.com"
            },
            "roles": [
                "supplier"
            ],
            "details": {
                "url": "http://dxc.com",
                "scale": "large",
                "vcse": false,
                "publicServiceMissionOrganization": false,
                "shelteredWorkshop": false
            }
        }
    ],
    "buyer": {
        "id": "GB-PPON-PCQH-8657-NGMT",
        "name": "Business Services Organisation"
    },
    "tender": {
        "id": "DAC20001",
        "legalBasis": {
            "id": "2023/54",
            "scheme": "UKPGA",
            "uri": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents"
        },
        "title": "EPES, CFU and Ophthalmic applications Support, Upgrade and hardware Refresh",
        "description": "In June 2008, the Electronic Prescribing and Eligibility System (EPES) went live. The objective of the project was to capture prescription information from Community Pharmacies into a central EPES Database. This system was introduced to speed up pharmacy re-payments, allow for closer scrutiny of the prescribing and dispensing process, and reduce lost income through patients falsely claiming to be in receipt of a qualifying Social Security benefit. Following its successful launch, EPES was extended to support Dental and Ophthalmic claims processing, the DOP system. This DAC will ensure continuity of services for the Family Practitioner System Team. Failure to provision the extended support places BSO at serious risk of an application failure from which we would be unable to recover from. Contractor payments of approximately PS576m per annum would be defaulted on and there would also be a risk of fraud as it would be impossible to process prescriptions and estimate payments manually. DXC Technology will support the EPES systems for BSO. The scope of this Contract includes: * Planning and project management. * Procurement and support of 8 new workstations and scanners. * Assistance from DXC and Kodak Alaris to setup new workstations with the Kodak Alaris Kodak Info Input scanning software. * Health checks. * Perform renewal of the existing labor support contract. * Extension of Kodak support contract * Recompile of code to make it supportable. * Upgrade to Windows 11. PS1,080,186 has been previously directed awarded to DXC for support, maintenance, and upgrade works to support the EPES system. It is our intention to complete a further Direct Award to the value of PS5,500,000.",
        "status": "complete",
        "procurementMethod": "direct",
        "procurementMethodDetails": "Direct award",
        "procurementMethodRationale": "DXC are the incumbent contractors and own the Intellectual Property Rights on the software. Failure to provision the extended support places BSO at serious risk of an application failure from which we would be unable to recover from. Contractor payments of approximately PS576m per annum would be defaulted on and there would also be a risk of fraud as it would be impossible to process prescriptions and estimate payments manually.",
        "lots": [
            {
                "id": "1",
                "status": "complete"
            }
        ],
        "documents": [
            {
                "id": "conflictOfInterest",
                "documentType": "conflictOfInterest",
                "description": "Not published"
            }
        ],
        "procurementMethodRationaleClassifications": [
            {
                "id": "singleSuppliersIntellectualPropertyExclusiveRights"
            }
        ]
    },
    "awards": [
        {
            "id": "1",
            "title": "EPES, CFU and Ophthalmic applications Support , Upgrade and Hardware Refresh",
            "status": "pending",
            "value": {
                "amountGross": 7896223.52,
                "amount": 6580186.27,
                "currency": "GBP"
            },
            "mainProcurementCategory": "services",
            "aboveThreshold": true,
            "suppliers": [
                {
                    "id": "GB-COH-00053419",
                    "name": "ENTSERV UK LIMITED"
                }
            ],
            "items": [
                {
                    "id": "1",
                    "additionalClassifications": [
                        {
                            "scheme": "CPV",
                            "id": "72000000",
                            "description": "IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support"
                        }
                    ],
                    "deliveryAddresses": [
                        {
                            "region": "UKN",
                            "country": "GB",
                            "countryName": "United Kingdom"
                        },
                        {
                            "region": "UKN",
                            "country": "GB",
                            "countryName": "United Kingdom"
                        }
                    ],
                    "relatedLot": "1"
                }
            ],
            "contractPeriod": {
                "startDate": "2025-04-01T00:00:00+01:00",
                "endDate": "2026-12-31T23:59:59Z",
                "maxExtentDate": "2030-12-31T23:59:59Z"
            },
            "hasRenewal": true,
            "renewal": {
                "description": "This DAC is to allow support to be provided until systems can be replaced. This support cannot be provided by any other supplier as DXC have the exclusive rights to the software. BSO ITS wish to enter into a one year Contract with the option to extend for a further four x one year extensions. The ePharmacy Programme was supposed to provide replacement systems for EPES, but this has been significantly delayed due to budgetary restrictions. The procurement of replacement systems is likely to be begin in 2026 with a proposed implementation date of quarter three in the Financial Year of 2030."
            },
            "relatedLots": [
                "1"
            ],
            "documents": [
                {
                    "id": "007788-2025",
                    "documentType": "awardNotice",
                    "noticeType": "UK5",
                    "description": "Transparency notice on Find a Tender",
                    "url": "https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/007788-2025",
                    "datePublished": "2025-03-04T11:05:22Z",
                    "format": "text/html"
                },
                {
                    "id": "007831-2025",
                    "documentType": "awardNotice",
                    "noticeType": "UK6",
                    "description": "Contract award notice on Find a Tender",
                    "url": "https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/007831-2025",
                    "datePublished": "2025-03-04T12:18:50Z",
                    "format": "text/html"
                }
            ],
            "milestones": [
                {
                    "id": "1",
                    "type": "futureSignatureDate",
                    "dueDate": "2025-03-31T23:59:59+01:00",
                    "status": "scheduled"
                }
            ],
            "date": "2025-03-04T00:00:00Z",
            "standstillPeriod": {
                "endDate": "2025-03-13T23:59:59+00:00"
            }
        }
    ],
    "language": "en"
}