Contract explainer

The NHS Federated Data Platform (NHS FDP) is an NHS-controlled platform designed to connect vital health information across the NHS, helping staff deliver better care for patients and work more efficiently. This platform supports the Government’s Plan for Change mission to build an NHS fit for the future through digital transformation, moving from ‘analogue to digital’ to modernise healthcare delivery.

The NHS FDP was designed by the NHS for the NHS to improve data use for patient outcomes and support NHS transformation activities.

The procurement process

The platform was procured via a rigorous, competitive procurement process in line with government procurement legislation. The selection was made by multiple assessors against clear criteria following an open tender process where any supplier could respond with their solution. A consortium led by Palantir was awarded the contract in November 2023 based on their ability to meet the specific needs defined by NHS England for the NHS FDP.

The suppliers were required to demonstrate their financial, commercial, security and technical capability to meet contractual requirements. The procurement process also required suppliers to evidence their commitment to sustainability and social value.

The contract

The full contract is available on Contracts Finder. Below is a summary of the strict measures in place to that ensure that:

  1. The supplier complies with stringent supplier controls, requiring them to demonstrate their financial, commercial, security and technical capability to meet our contractual requirements. The procurement process also asked suppliers to provide demonstrable evidence of their commitment to sustainability and social value.
  2. Patient data is protected through clear regulations, security measures, retained within the UK region, with access fully audited and NHS cyber security monitoring and protection.
  3. Intellectual property for NHS funded services remain with the NHS, ensuring capabilities developed are retained within the NHS
  4. NHS FDP is integrated to NHS Cyber monitoring and IT Service Operation Centre Monitoring whilst also being monitored by the suppliers, providing a dual layer of monitoring and protection.
  5. Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery is tested on an annual basis, to ensure that services can be recovered in the event of an outage. Clear step in rights are included within the contract to ensure in the event of an extreme event the NHS can take control of the service and limit access to the data.
  6. Vendor lock-in is avoided through contractual limitations, a seven-year contract term, robust exit planning, standards and technical guidelines to utilise agnostic services that can be migrated.
How was the supplier selected?

NHS England ran an independent procurement exercise to procure a federated data platform. The choice of preferred supplier was not made by a single person, it was the result of assessment by many different individuals.

The following elements were tested at every stage of the procurement process:

  • financial stability
  • commercial compliance
  • technical capability
  • social value

A consortium led by Palantir, which includes Accenture, PWC, Carnall Farrar and NECS, was awarded the contract to deliver the NHS Federated Data Platform in November 2023.

The contract is valued at £330 million for over a seven-year period and this will provide funding for up to 240 NHS organisations (trusts and integrated care systems).

The contract is publicly available on Contracts Finder.

Can Palantir profit from NHS Data?

As part of the contract, the only right Palantir has is to provide NHS FDP services to NHS users. Palantir therefore cannot:

  1. commercialise or market NHS data, even on an anonymised basis
  2. make any other use of NHS data and this includes using NHS data to develop or derive new Supplier products (for example by training an AI model on NHS data)
How patient data is protected?

NHS England takes its responsibility to handle health and care data lawfully, proportionately, ethically and in confidence very seriously, which is why privacy by design, is at the heart of the NHS Federated Data Platform. Data is protected in a number of ways:

  • Palantir is a “processor” under data protection law and the agreement, which means it only processes NHS data as directed by an NHS user.
  • the platform enforces strict role and purpose based access controls to ensure only approved personnel can access any patient data.
  • all access must be lawful – all uses of data within the NHS Federated Data Platforms must be ethical, for the public good, and comply with all existing law including data protection laws.

More information about how we protect privacy and confidentiality can be found here: NHS England » How we are protecting privacy and confidentiality

How is our intellectual property protected – can Palantir benefit commercially?

Palantir has no intellectual property rights (IPRs) in NHS data as part of this contract.

Where NHS England commissions material containing IPRs, it owns those IPRs – this includes the data ontology commissioned by NHS England to support NHS FDP use known as the Canonical Data Model.

The platform itself is based on an existing Supplier data analytics product, Foundry, and so Palantir retains IPRs in that product.

How can we ensure we are not locked into the supplier?

The contract has multiple measures in to mitigate the risk of lock-in to Palantir:

  • contract term – Whilst there is a maximum term of seven years, the NHS England commitment to the Supplier is incremental: only a three year term is committed, which can be extended by two years and then two further one year periods
  • cloud / SaaS infrastructure – it is not integrated into NHS core systems, patient record systems remain the primary clinical record
  • data export and migration – The platform enables connection and export of data at any time and is already a core part of our integration patterns. The contract also includes clear terms for migrating data and services to another supplier or back to the NHS if the contract ends
  • in house skills – NHS England has developed its own data engineering and analytics skills and capabilities, ensuring NHS staff operate, develop and maintain its core services, many of the National products are developed, managed and maintained by NHS staff. The centre of excellence provided by the programme is also developing the skills and capabilities across the NHS, with local organisations already developing their own solutions, reducing the reliance in third parties
  • Multi-Vendor Landscape – The programme has developed a “Solution Exchange” to encourage other suppliers to develop and share applications for the NHS FDP. The Programme also partners with several other organisations to develop solutions and services for the NHS FDP.