CCG tenders for £3m-£4m GP IT support

NHS Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group has gone out to tender for a GP IT support service worth £3m-£4m.

The three-year contract, with an option to extend for another two years, will replace the IT support service currently provided by two suppliers, neither of which is a commissioning support unit.

It will cover IT maintenance and a service desk, GP clinical systems, national systems implementation and information governance management.

The tender is significant as a signal that CCGs are taking control of the funding and responsibility for procuring their GP IT after NHS England announced it was devolving responsibility for this to the groups in June 2012.

EHI established in February last year that the total allocation for CCGs across England would be £186m in this financial year, based on previous reported spend by primary care trusts on GP IT.

The funding landed with local area teams, which were working with commissioners to verify local budgets. However, there were concerns raised that the money was never finding its way to CCGs, but rather going directly to CSUs to provide GP IT support.

Commenting on the release of the Dorset tender, chair of the BMA’s General Practitioners Committee Dr Chaand Nagpaul said: “CCGs have delegated authority to commission GP IT support services.

“It is encouraging that CCGs are beginning to exercise their entitlement to procure services that are fit for purpose, and the most appropriate and responsive to the needs of GP practices."

A Dorset CCG spokesperson said the benefit of the new contract is that it will consolidate GP IT support with one provider.

Requests to participate are due by 3 March.