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NICHS Cache Support Services 26/27

Business Services Organisation I T S

This public procurement record has 3 releases in its history.

Award

05 Aug 2026 at 13:21

UK7 - Contract Details Notice
Award

11 Mar 2026 at 15:57

UK6 - Contract Award Notice
Award

11 Mar 2026 at 14:15

UK5 - Transparency Notice
Summary of the contracting process

Business Services Organisation ITS procured specialist IT support services for the Northern Ireland Child Health System (NICHS), including continued support and suitable upgrading of the Caché technology used by the system’s application and database. NICHS is the population register and information system used by all five Health and Social Care Trusts to support child health appraisal, screening, vaccination and immunisation services for children aged 0 to 19. It also supports service monitoring, planning, analysis, reporting, research, audit, GP scheduling and the Electronic Care Record. The work covers four NICHS instances and the NICHS Hub that exchanges data between Trusts. Delivery is for the Health and Social Care organisations serving Northern Ireland.

The procurement is complete following a direct award to INTERSYSTEMS, justified on the basis that it is the only supplier able to provide the relevant Caché licences and support services because of intellectual property rights. The award was made on 11 March 2026 for one lot. The contract was signed on 1 April 2026 and runs from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027. Its value is £34,180.96 excluding VAT, or £41,017.15 including VAT. The procurement was treated as a services contract and was below threshold. The requirement was evaluated through a direct-award route rather than an open competition, with the supplier’s exclusive rights forming the stated basis for the decision.

This procurement indicates recurring demand from Business Services Organisation ITS for suppliers with deep expertise in InterSystems Caché, including licence support, database and application support, compatibility with 64-bit server hardware, upgrades and ongoing technical maintenance. A credible competitor for a future requirement would need to demonstrate the right to provide or support the relevant proprietary technology, or a capability that addresses the associated intellectual property constraints. Experience supporting live public-sector health information systems would be particularly relevant, given NICHS’s role across all five Northern Ireland Health and Social Care Trusts and its links to screening, immunisation, reporting, research and the Electronic Care Record. Suppliers should also be able to support multiple system instances and data interchange between Trusts.

How relevant is this notice?

Notice Information

Notice Title

NICHS Cache Support Services 26/27

Notice Description

This DAC is needed to procure support services to permit the continued operation of the NI Child Health System (NICHS) and hence the continued delivery of Child Health services to the population of Northern Ireland. The NICHS is an information system used by all 5 HSC Trusts to record and manage the information needed to provide Child Health services to the population of Northern Ireland. The system provides essential support to staff involved in health appraisal, screening, vaccination and immunisation of children - both before they go to school and during the period of school attendance. CHS supports the business of a wide range of stakeholders. Trusts rely on the system to support the delivery of services. Other organisations, including HSCB, PHA and DHSSPS rely on the information generated by the system for the monitoring and planning of services. NISRA use CHS data for analysis and reporting and GPs rely on CHS data for the scheduling of preschool services. CHS data is also used for research and audit purposes and it is a feeder of information to the Electronic Care Record. As a unique and comprehensive population based register of all - 0 to 19 years of age - children in N. Ireland, the CHS has facilitated numerous Public Health initiatives in the areas of teenage pregnancy, childhood obesity, special needs, breastfeeding, low birth weight, infant mortality, smoking in pregnancy and monitoring progress in tackling health inequalities. There are 4 instances of the NICHS in use - one in each of the WHSCT, NHSCT and SHSCT one in BHSCT serving the needs of both BHSCT and SEHSCT. In addition, there is a "NICHS Hub" that facilitates the interchange of data between Trusts. Cache is the technology used for both the NICHS application software and for the NICHS database. Without Cache, the system would not exist. The version of Cache used must be compatible with the hardware on which it runs. The NI Child Health System is hosted on the HSC Consolidated Servers which have 64-bit processors. The new licence for the 64 bit of Cache was purchased on 1st April 2020 along with the yearly revenue costs for Cache support services. At that time the yearly percentage uplift to the ongoing yearly revenue costs was not applied to these costs. This DAC is, therefore, required to ensure that the ongoing Cache support services remain in place, for the duration of the contract, to enable the staff in the organisations cited above to use the CHS and to ensure that the technology used to provide the application and the database is suitably upgraded and supported.

Procurement Information

Intersystems are the only supplier of these licences. Frameworks for Cache licences were considered, reviewed and eliminated. There was no reference to BSO on the Contract Award Notices. In addition, the scope of the required procurement does not appear to fit within the scope of the frameworks. We wish to reply on schedule 5 section 5 (a) due to Intersystems having the intellectual property rights. They are the only suppier able to provide the services.

Notice Details

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-h6vhtk-066753
Publication Source
Find A Tender Service
Latest Notice
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/074196-2026
Current Stage
Award
All Stages
Award

Procurement Classification

Notice Type
UK7 - Contract Details 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
£34,180 Under £100K
Contracts Value
£34,180 Under £100K

Notice Dates

Publication Date
5 Aug 20261 months ago
Submission Deadline
Not specified
Future Notice Date
Not specified
Award Date
11 Mar 20266 months ago
Contract Period
1 Apr 2026 - 31 Mar 2027 6-12 months
Recurrence
Not specified

Notice Status

Tender Status
Complete
Lots Status
Complete
Awards Status
Active
Contracts Status
Active

Buyer & Supplier

Contracting Authority (Buyer)

Main Buyer
Business Services Organisation I T S
Contact Name
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Email
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Phone
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →

Buyer Location

Locality
BELFAST
Postcode
BT2 8DQ
Postcode Area
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

InterSystems

Further Information

Notice Documents

Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)

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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.

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