An NHS Scotland instruction system has hit back again at accusations that a ten years-prolonged cloud deal signed with Amazon World-wide-web Solutions (AWS) over 12 months in the past is anti-innovation, anti-aggressive and places the organisation at higher-danger of lock-in.
The £15m deal was awarded to AWS by NHS Instruction for Scotland (NES) in April 2020, but the deal award detect was only manufactured public in early May possibly 2021. Considering that then the specifics of the deal have been the subject matter of substantially critique in just the govt IT provider neighborhood, Pc Weekly has uncovered.
A number of users of the IT provider neighborhood expressed their misgivings about the deal, on affliction of anonymity, to Pc Weekly with substantially of the criticism they shared concentrating on the “extraordinary” duration of the deal. As stated in the authentic tender, the deal is set to run for one hundred twenty months.
In accordance to the complainants Pc Weekly has spoken to, the contracts terms are “anti-competitive” and “completely out of step” with how public sector cloud contracts are expected to be conducted.
“We now have a monopoly that has locked in a public sector organisation for 10 many years and locked out the opposition for 10 many years, which include the Uk tech current market and SMEs,” a person provider informed Pc Weekly.
The Uk government’s different cloud procurement frameworks restrict the duration of contracts to a highest of five many years on the basis that shorter deal terms make it less complicated for public sector buyers to up grade their technological know-how stacks as desired, although fostering a aggressive ecosystem for suppliers – notably SMEs – to run in.
Towards this context, Rob Anderson, principal analyst for central govt at study company GlobalData, explained he understands why the deal duration is raising eyebrows.
“Ten many years is ridiculously prolonged for a cloud deal for the reason that the [technological know-how] ecosystem is altering so immediately,” he informed Pc Weekly.
“When the Uk government’s G-Cloud procurement framework was set up in 2012, the highest deal time period was two many years. And even even though the tech has matured, the deal terms now are nonetheless now only 3 to five many years on the Cloud Compute Framework the govt introduced not too long ago.”
In a statement to Pc Weekly, an NES spokesperson played down the contract’s duration. “It is not essentially for 10 many years: there are crack points all through that time period if necessary.”
In accordance to sources who participated in the procurement system, the deal with AWS initially runs for five many years, but there is an choice to extend it by a additional five many years with no needing to re-tender the deal.
Even with these terms in location, the nature of what NES will be utilizing AWS for indicates it is liable to locate it hard to migrate to a different internet hosting company should it need to later on down the line, claimed a person provider, which could stifle the organisation’s capability to innovate in long term.
“Any personal savings manufactured by altering the internet hosting company, for illustration, would be massively negated by the charges of rewriting the programs [hosted on top rated of it]. So are the NES crack clauses meaningful? I imagine not,” they extra.
In response to promises the deal is anti-innovation, the NES spokesperson explained the platform does allow for for other suppliers to create functionality on top rated of the fundamental AWS infrastructure, which will foster innovation and give a way in for other functions later on down the line.
“The possible for innovation is less about which cloud company is becoming employed, and extra about what can be developed on top rated of the platform. We seem forward to exploring this with other suppliers in the long term,” the spokesperson extra.
Plotting out the route to procurement
AWS is regarded to have commenced function on the job in April 2020, but suppliers have queried why it took till 12 May possibly 2021 for Amazon to be publicly named as NES’s selected cloud company.
“It is normal observe for there to be a delay among awarding a deal and publishing the specifics, although we function out the specifics of how the deal and solutions will be structured,” the NES statement extra. “The elevated time on this event was a attribute of the unparalleled pressure that all NHS solutions have been under.”
The NES also favoured a “competitive procedure with negotiation” procurement system for this deal, which has also been referred to as into dilemma by suppliers given that it is considered to be an “onerous and complex” approach of procuring solutions that can demonstrate off-putting to SMEs.
“It is a procedure that is ordinarily reserved for outsourcing-design arrangements,” a different provider extra.
The deal award detect confirms that two unnamed suppliers were being also in the operating for the deal along with AWS, but none of the bids the tender garnered were being submitted by SMEs.
In accordance to the Scottish government’s Procurement Journey site, the aggressive procedure with negotiation procurement system is developed so public sector organisations can clarify the submissions they have been given with the bidders after they have been given a “fully-fashioned first tender”.
“You should use this procedure if you are unable to outline how to meet up with your requirements technically and/or you simply cannot specify the lawful or money prerequisites of your deal,” the site extra, ahead of citing that it can be employed for “complex purchases” involving “major info and communication technological know-how tools”.
In its statement to Pc Weekly, the NES spokesperson explained the use of this procurement system is commonplace throughout NHS Scotland.
“This is a common technique throughout NHS Scotland, subsequent Scottish govt recommendations, aimed at trying to find the right company at greatest price for income,” the statement extra.
“This deal was awarded in April 2020 subsequent public deal recommendations and trying to find greatest price for taxpayers’ income.”
AWS explained it has no remark to make at this time.