Court lifts suspension on NHS Scotland

An Edinburgh court today lifted a suspension preventing NHS Scotland from awarding a contract for the Scottish Wide Area Network because of ongoing legal issues with BT.

EHI reported last month that BT had taken NHS Scotland to court over its tendering process after losing a bid for the £110m framework contract.

In December last year, BT served a summons on the organisation to re-run the procurement. If not, the company would seek £20m in damages.

The legal action meant that NHS Scotland could not award the contract to its preferred bidder, but today the judge ruled that the suspension has been lifted.

"The court has today upheld NSS' request to have the suspension lifted and allow an award of contract to be made,” said an NHS Scotland spokesperson.

“BT has requested leave to appeal this decision and the court will consider this at a further hearing on Tuesday 11 February."

The Scottish Wide Area Network will deliver a single public services network across Scotland and is due to be rolled out in April this year.

BT was bidding against Cable & Wireless working with Virgin Media Business and a collaboration between Capita and Updata for the six-year contract, but claims the tender process was “flawed.”

The aim of the network is to create common standards and easier integration between public sector bodies.

BT declined to comment on today’s outcome as the case is still ongoing. The court case continues next week.