A trust has been taken to the High Court by a technology firm which claims it broke procurement law in how it evaluated competing bids for a £65m contract for an electronic patient record system, HSJ has reported.
In a claim lodged with the court, technology firm System C said Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Trust had changed the award criteria, or used undisclosed criteria, after launching the competitive process and before announcing the preferred bidder had won.
The company said it believed this had favoured the winning bidder – technology firms Insight Direct and Altera working in partnership – based on the limited amount of material so far released by the trust.
It said it would seek wider disclosure of documents from the trust, adding that the limited transparency so far was itself a breach of procurement rules. The trust has yet to publish its defence papers.
System C is the incumbent EPR supplier to the trust. In further alleged breaches of the regulations, it said the trust had apparently excluded higher scores given to its bid by some evaluators in favour of lower scores, which also affected its bid.
Prospective suppliers submit answers to a set of questions when vying for a contract – these responses are then evaluated and scored to determine which bidder wins.
There appeared to be further issues with the evaluation process for this contract, System C said. The trust had told bidders at the start of the procurement process that evaluators would assess scores individually before deciding final scores through a consensus process.
However, System C said the “limited evaluation records” released to it indicate that its final score was apparently awarded where “no consensus was reached in respect of either appropriate final scores or reasons amongst participating evaluators”. Instead the final scores appeared to have been “determined based on a form of majority voting”.
System C is seeking a judgment that the trust acted unlawfully, that the evaluation or the entire procurement be abandoned, and the award of as-yet unspecified damages.
A spokesperson for the company said they “recognise that EPR procurements are typically complex and resource intensive for all parties, and issuing a legal claim is not something we have done without due consideration.Our primary objective is to ensure a fair procurement process for all involved.”
“Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospital Trust is a valued customer and we will continue to support their core objectives in achieving digital transformation,” they added.
A Trust spokesperson said: “Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Trust remains committed to ensuring the highest standards of governance and transparency in all of its operations, including procurement processes.
“We can confirm that the trust will be filing a robust defence in response to the claims made by System C but cannot comment further on specific details due to ongoing legal proceedings.
“Our priority remains delivering the best possible care to our patients supported by digital transformation, and we will continue to work towards this goal.”
Date: 16 October