After lawyers for the Department of Health served a termination notice on Fujitsu on 28 May 2008, the two sides began what has become a protracted legal dispute.
Fujitsu is said to be seeking £700m from the Department of Health after its £1bn contract as the local service provider on the NPfIT for the south of England was terminated.
Now, more than a year later, the two sides remain in a dispute which gives Fujitsu the upper hand, for history shows that the Government is willing to start litigation against IT suppliers but isn't prepared to let the cases go to an open court hearing which leads to a judgement.
Fujitsu is said to be willing to go to court to press its claim. But the government isn't.
A Department of Health spokeswoman said:
"Matters relating to the contract and the dispute with Fujitsu are subject to confidentiality provisions and for legal reasons we will not be making any comment on either the process or the expected outcome."
[more tomorrow]
