---
title: "COVID-19 Test Digital Platform"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-029405"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-029405"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-029405.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-029405.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE INFORMATION CENTRE, KNOWN AS NHS DIGITAL"
published: "2021-02-17"
---

# COVID-19 Test Digital Platform

Buyer: HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE INFORMATION CENTRE, KNOWN AS NHS DIGITAL  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-029405

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[Download OCDS JSON](https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-029405.json)

## Summary

The public procurement process involves NHS Digital, which has awarded a contract titled "COVID-19 Test Digital Platform" for IT services, specifically in consulting, software development, and support. This contract, valued at £51,000,000, is focused on developing and maintaining a digital platform that supports the Covid-19 National Test Service, including ordering portals and mobile applications. The contract was initiated on 18 December 2020 and entered the award stage in February 2021. The services will predominantly be delivered remotely, with compliance to co-location requests as needed. The procurement process was conducted using a limited method without prior publication due to the urgent nature of the public health emergency.

This tender presents significant opportunities for businesses, particularly those specialising in IT services, software development, and digital solutions, especially in the context of public health and emergency response technologies. Suppliers with experience in managing digital platforms and services that ensure continuity in testing and data management are well-suited to compete. Furthermore, firms that can offer innovative solutions for the ongoing evolution of testing services during the pandemic may find a lucrative niche, given the criticality and complexity of the services required by NHS Digital.

## Notice

Contract with Deloitte LLP for the provision of digital solution design, build and live service of a digital platform, ordering portals and mobile applications to support the Covid-19 National Test Service. The services provided under this contract support the digital and data journey for COVID-19 testing, currently amounting to millions of tests each week, and have introduced new capabilities as the testing programme has evolved to support the pandemic response.

### Lot Information

Lot 1

Please see the description provided at section II.1.4. The estimated contract value is PS51,000,000. Additional information: Following signature of the original contract, a contract variation was entered into on 12 February 2021 in order to reflect an increase in the scope of services being provided. Pursuant to this contract variation, the maximum contract value was increased to PS51,000,000. Due to the character limit, further information in relation to Section II.2.5 is set out in Section VI.3.

Options: The contract has an initial period expiring on 31 March 2021 and includes an option to extend the contract by way of variation. The changing pressures of the pandemic due to the new variants in circulation and the increased rate of spread of the virus are both factors contributing to the criticality of ensuring that the testing services continue uninterrupted. Therefore, it is envisaged that the option to extend the contract is likely to be utilised to ensure there is no interruption to service, as this poses a significant risk to public health.

### Procurement Information

1) The Covid-19 outbreak is a Public Health Emergency of International Concern as declared by the World Health Organisation on 30 January 2020. The UK Government's response to the national emergency posed by COVID-19 included putting in place arrangements for large-scale testing for COVID-19 on an urgent basis. 2) Upon transition of responsibility of the Digital Delivery Lead role, NHS Digital awarded the contract to the supplier following the supplier's prior engagement with DHSC. 3) NHS Digital is satisfied the tests permitting use of the negotiated procedure without prior publication (Regulation 32(2)(b(ii)) are met: A. The works, supplies or services can be supplied only by a particular economic operator as competition is absent for technical reasons: Due to the highly bespoke nature of the testing services and the criticality of ensuring that the testing services continued uninterrupted, at the stage of contract award, the supplier was the only economic operator capable of facilitating the continuation of the testing services. It would be seriously counter-productive to the national effort to have carried out a procurement in respect of some or all of the workstreams being undertaken by the existing provider and/or that any attempt to potentially transition between providers in the context of ensuring that the relevant work progresses with appropriate rapidity could have led to material avoidable delay or risk of disruption to the service and the ability to access data which could have had a fundamental impact on the provision of testing services to citizens in England. B. No reasonable alternative or substitute exists - The continuation of the testing services was and is critical to England's response to the Coronavirus outbreak and the containment of the spread of the virus. If the existing supplier was unable to continue in the short-term to provide the services due to the transition of responsibility to another provider identified by NHS Digital, this could have had a catastrophic impact on the success of the TTCE strategy and may have resulted in further spreading of the virus due to difficulties in testing and isolating those who have tested positive. C. The absence of competition is not the result of an artificial narrowing down of the parameters of the procurement - this procurement is part of a procurement strategy by the UK government to provide a stable and effective digital testing platform to meet demand due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/003230-2021 |
| Notice type | Award Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Limited |
| Procurement method details | Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition |
| Tender suitability | Not specified |
| Awardee scale | Large |
| All stages | Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 17 Feb 2021 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 18 Dec 2020 |
| Contract period | Not specified |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | £51,000,000 |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Cancelled |
| Awards status | Active |
| Contracts status | Active |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE INFORMATION CENTRE, KNOWN AS NHS DIGITAL |
| Locality | LEEDS |
| Post town | Leeds |
| Postcode | LS1 6AE |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLE Yorkshire and The Humber |
| ITL 2 | TLE4 West Yorkshire |
| ITL 3 | TLE42 Leeds |
| Local authority | Leeds |
| Electoral ward | Hunslet & Riverside |
| Westminster constituency | Leeds South |
| Delivery location | TLE42 Leeds |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | DELOITTE |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

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

### Codes

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

## Release History

- 17 Feb 2021 at 22:56 - Award - Award Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/003230-2021

## Notice URLs

- https://digital.nhs.uk/
- https://www2.deloitte.com/uk/en.html/

## Provenance

This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-029405. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-029405.json.