CSC CEO set to sign Government contract memorandum

CSC - one of the main suppliers to the NHS - expects to sign the UK government's Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in a matter of days after CEO Mike Laphen met with health service bosses.

The US services giant was among the main providers to government who were summoned by Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude and told to revise their contracts along more favourable terms to the government. A number of CSC competitors, such as HP, Atos Origin and Logica, have already signed new contract terms.

"I am hoping that we're days away from a signed MOU versus weeks away," confirmed Laphen. "We've obviously jointly put a lot of time and effort into this, and as I hopefully will conclude this shortly, I admit face-to-face [meeting] with the NHS leadership on the programme just recently.

"I believe both CSC is fully committed to go forward plan and my sense is that, that's the same for the NHS. So, I think we have pretty good clarity at this point," he added. "We've been engaged with NHS in detailed discussions over the past quarter. We are optimistic that an agreed MOU is forthcoming on CSC's local service provider contract for the North Midland and East of England."

The scaling back of the NHS National Programme for IT had already meant CSC faced a reduced contract value. "This programme has been realigned in light of the NHS's changed agenda and in response to the UK government initiative to significantly reduce its overall expenditure." said Laphen. "As previously announced by the NHS, the contract value will be reduced by approximately £500 million and includes scope adjustments."

But work will continue on aspects of the original NHS programme. "After successfully completing the Lorenzo Release 1.9 implementation at the four early adopted trust CSC will then move on to the full deployment of this solution," explained Laphen. "I am pleased to the note that Birmingham Women's NHS Foundation Trust became the third early adopter of our Lorenzo Release 1.9 solution as they went live on November 1. Early indications are positive and demonstrate further progress in the maturation of the solution and the go-live process that has resulted from the early adopter programme."