BT to pay up after missing NHS deadlines

BT is to cough up a rumoured six-figure sum for missing a deadline on one of its core £2.15bn NHS contracts.

But both sides, BT and the National Programme for IT (NOfIT), say the project's still going well.

Yesterday NHS IT supremo Richard Granger revealed at a press conference that BT had missed a couple of deadlines and that it would be paying an undisclosed six-figure sum to account for it.

He emphasised two other things as well: first, how tight and how tough the contracts for the projects are; and second, how well the project is going and how well the NHS is getting along with its contractors in what Granger said he hoped would be effective long-term relationships with suppliers who perform.

An NPfIT statement confirmed that BT had missed two of 56 milestones in the first phase of the rollout of a broadband infrastructure and that BT was being asked to pay an "appropriate sum in compensation".

BT admitted there had been a delay and said it was in discussions with the NHS over any recompense that would cover additional costs occurring due to the delay. It added that everything was now fixed and that relations with the NHS were good.

The NPfIT seconded that and said that BT "continues to work constructively with the NHS to deploy broadband connectivity".

A research note issued by analyst house Ovum said: "This certainly wasn't the news that either Richard Granger or BT would have liked to be discussing at this early stage of the NPfIT contracts.

"On a programme of this scale and complexity, with a tight implementation schedule, there are bound to be further problems and delays (as Granger himself said yesterday). Frankly we'd be surprised if this is the last time that the NPfIT is due damages from one of its many suppliers."