Prior UK government planned £485M four-year budget for Palantir-based healthcare system

Documents from NHS England meeting reveal scope of politicos spending intent

Exclusive The total planned budget for the English health service's controversial Palantir-based analytics system was set to reach £485 million over four years, according to figures seen by The Register.

Pre-election plans for the Federated Data Platform (FDP) reveal the extent of the former Conservative government's spending plans around technology from the US spy-tech software company.

In December last year, NHS England awarded a seven-year £330 million contract to Palantir, stating it would invest £25.6 million in the platform in the first year. The deal was initially tendered as a five-year contract with a two-year extension option, with a maximum value of up to £480 million.

The non-departmental public body also awarded a separate three-year contract for NHS Privacy Enhancing Technology (NHS-PET) to IQVIA, a healthcare technology and consulting firm. The value of that deal was not disclosed.

Documents from NHS England's FDP Programme Board – seen by The Register – reveal a planned £485 million rolling budget for the project over four years. The figure includes £340 million in revenue spending and £145 million in capital for the financial years 23/24 to 26/27 inclusive.

The figures, presented at the meeting in March, show the total budget for the first year of £122.3 million, made up of £85.4 million in revenue and £36.9 million in capital expenditure.

NHS England has yet to respond to The Register's request for comment on whether spending plans had been changed, or are set to change given the election of a new Labour government in July and pressure on public spending.

The procurement and conception of the FDP have been beset by controversy.

In March, NHS England published a less-redacted version of the Palantir contract following legal pressure from the campaign group Good Law Project. The project is also under legal pressure from four campaign groups – Foxglove; the Doctors' Association UK; the National Pensioners' Convention; and patient organization Just Treatment – which plan to challenge the legal basis for collecting data from hospital trusts and GP surgeries in the FDP.

Although NHS England maintains that the procurement of the FDP system has been a fair and open competition, critics claim Palantir was given an unfair advantage because of its role in building a similar COVID-era system, some use cases from which will be carried over to the FDP.

In total, NHS England awarded Palantir £60 million without outside competition. It began with the US supplier offering its services under a £1 contract in the early stages of the pandemic. Palantir went on to win business worth £1 million ($1.25 million), then a £23 million ($28.7 million) contract was signed in December 2020, again without competition. More recent extension deals were arranged to cover the period running up to the FDP contract award. ®