US firm Lockheed Martin has pulled out from bidding to
supply and support health systems for the Department of Health’s
£2.3bn national programme for IT.The
unexpected withdrawal leaves only two suppliers, IBM and BT, in the
competition to become a national service provider and a local
service provider for the flagship region of London.
Lockheed’s
withdrawal from bidding for the two crucial contracts for which it
had been shortlisted is a serious blow to the department, which has
been keen to encourage bids from as many international suppliers as
possible.
Lockheed
had been in the running to provide a national “data spine” of
patient records. Its withdrawal came suddenly, less than 24 hours
before it was due to demonstrate systems to clinicians, IT
specialists and NHS executives in London.
The
capital is one of five regions in England where a local service
provider will be chosen to take over existing equipment and provide
new systems.
The
announcement of the decision to withdraw from the London
competition was revealed within the NHS in a confidential memo,
seen last week by Computer Weekly.
Signed on
behalf of Duncan Selbie, chief executive of the South East London
Strategic Health Authority and chairman of London ICT Board, the
memo said, “I have just received the news that Lockheed Martin [is]
no longer participating in the London cluster competition and
therefore will not be demonstrating [its] solution to us
tomorrow.
“I am
writing this mail to you urgently and would ask that you keep this
mail in confidence.”
The first
major contracts under the national programme for IT are due to be
awarded by
31 October
and will include the London region. For several months IBM has been
tipped as the favoured supplier for London.
A
spokesman for the National Programme for IT said, “We value the
efforts [Lockheed has] made and the innovation [it has] brought to
the competition up to the point of [its] withdrawal.”
A Lockheed spokesman confirmed that it had
withdrawn from the competition but declined to comment further.