Accenture joins IBM in battle for £323m Put up Workplace Horizon deal
Accenture is bidding to take over the controversial system on the centre of the Put up Workplace Horizon scandal.
Laptop Weekly has discovered that the outsourcing big is bidding for lot two of the Put up Workplace Horizon alternative tender. The profitable bidder for the £323m contract will take over the working of the present Horizon system, when Fujitsu is lastly eliminated subsequent 12 months.
The Horizon system, from Fujitsu, was launched in 1000’s of Put up Workplace branches in 1999-2000, in what was on the time the most important non-military IT venture in Europe.
Often called the “stroll in and take over” contract, it contains software assist, growth and launch administration, in addition to migration from the on-premise datacentre to the cloud, and the institution of a cloud-native back-office and channel platform.
In March, Laptop Weekly additionally revealed that IBM was bidding for the contract, with DXC partnering it.
Though the Put up Workplace stated it couldn’t affirm Accenture is bidding, in an interview in February, the Put up Workplace’s chief expertise officer, Paul Anastassi, instructed Laptop Weekly that every one the suppliers in lot one are “excessive avenue names”, which inserts the profile of US IT giants Accenture and IBM. Accenture didn’t remark after being contacted.
Laptop Weekly understands there’s one different provider nonetheless within the working. In February, Anastassi stated many suppliers bid for the lot two contract however it was “whittled all the way down to a handful”. He stated this contract is significant because of the general Horizon property’s complexity.
Put up Workplace scandal
The Horizon system is on the centre of the Put up Workplace scandal, which was first uncovered by Laptop Weekly in 2009, when it revealed the tales of seven subpostmasters and the issues they suffered attributable to Horizon, which led to probably the most widespread miscarriage of justice in British historical past (see under timeline of Laptop Weekly articles concerning the scandal since 2009).
Lot one of many Horizon alternative tender, price £160m, seeks a provider to offer an off-the-shelf digital level of sale (EPOS) system to exchange the Horizon entrance finish. A dozen suppliers bid for this £169m contract, however solely three made the shortlist.
Amongst them can be a well-known face. As revealed by Laptop Weekly in July final 12 months, EPOS software program maker Escher, which equipped middleware within the Put up Workplace Horizon system, was eyeing lot two.
One of many standards for suppliers, all very conscious of the Horizon troubles, was a want to make issues proper on the Put up Workplace.
In a latest interview with Laptop Weekly, Anastassi instructed Laptop Weekly that Fujitsu shall be out eight to 12 months after each contracts are signed with suppliers this summer season. He added that by 2030, “we could have eradicated what we now know as Horizon fully from our property. It received’t be there in any respect.”
He stated there shall be no hint of Horizon, which has greater than 80 elements, by 2030.
In February, the UK authorities introduced it can present £483m in funding in direction of the Put up Workplace venture to exchange Fujitsu’s Horizon system and rework in-branch expertise. That is along with funds beforehand supplied for the venture, together with aborted makes an attempt to exchange Horizon, which takes the whole over £700m.
