NHS Digital has awarded digital service company Kainos a £7 million contract to provide development and operational support services for the Covid-19 testing service.
The deal is set to run for a maximum of two years, depending on how the pandemic develops, although the work will be heavily front-loaded into the first three months.
NHS Digital said it worked with a number partners in the early stages of the pandemic to get the digital infrastructure of the ‘Test and trace’ programme in place, and launched the procurement after being asked to lead as the digital service integration in June.
The digital elements of the testing service, in particular the systems underpinning home testing, now require further development to meet the emerging demands of the pandemic response.
Much achieved
Ben Davison, executive director of product development at NHS Digital, said: “Much has been achieved in an extremely short period in establishing a digital infrastructure for testing.
“As testing capacity increases, including home testing, the IT underpinning the service needs to remain reliable and user-centred in its design and delivery.
“We look forward to working with Kainos on this crucial programme of work.”
A second procurement is underway to find a provider of a contract tracing solution.
Image by Muenecchio, public domain
