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
• information governance
• data security
• 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 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.

The contract was awarded in November 2023 and formally began in March 2024

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 – giving the contract a potential end date of March 2031.

The initial three year term comes up in March 2027.

On Thursday 16 April 2026, during a Westminster Hall debate on the NHS Federated Data Platform Dr Zubir Ahmed MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care at DHSC, said:

“It is right that we look to maintain the highest standards for our NHS. It is also true that the FDP has a role to play in delivering for the NHS and helping people get the care they need more quickly and efficiently. Those are real outcomes that will improve people’s lives, all through the better use of data.

“The FDP is, and will continue to be, an important component of delivering patient care in the NHS in England. Of course, who contracts with the FDP will be open to question as we go forward and think about future contractual arrangements.”

NHS Federated Data Platform – Hansard – UK Parliament

Performance against the contract and performance of the programme as a whole is continually assessed, and data on uptake and benefits of the programme is published on the NHS England website each quarter.

The NHS FDP programme has been classified as a Government Major Project so is also assessed regularly by the Government’s National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority, on behalf of the Treasury. The NHS FDP is one of only 14% of government major programmes to receive a ‘Green’ rating in July 2025, indicating that the NHS FDP is on track.

In line with contract management processes and best practice guidance, contracts are reviewed prior to decisions being made on extensions.

For NHS FDP this will include an assessment of the solution (including uptake, product development and benefits), the strategic ambitions of NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care and an assessment of the supplier market and review of the commercial strategy.

Any decision to extend the contract will be taken by Ministers in line with governance and regulatory processes.

NHS England will be transparent on the process it follows in line with government best practice and clear in the evidence it has used, as we have been throughout the NHS Federated Data Platform process.

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)

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:

• any NHS FDP user organisation, such as hospital trusts or integrated care boards, who have their own instance of the NHS Federated Data Platform, have complete control over who has access to their data platform
• 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
• all data is stored, processed and accessed within the UK – there is no overseas processing of any type of data, all data is held in UK data centres and doesn’t leave the UK, and it is a contractual requirement that personal data stored in the NHS FDP and NHS-PET (Privacy Enhancing Technology) cannot be accessed by its provider’s personnel or contractors based outside the United Kingdom. These measures collectively ensure that NHS data remains under UK jurisdiction and all processing of patient information will be within the UK only

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

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 and NHS built products or components.

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

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.