- Post Office to source external software and service providers to replace Horizon
- Fujitsu’s Horizon gets a one-year extension due to the delays
- Horizon/NBIT replacements to cost £492 million
The Post Office is abandoning its in-house effort to replace the controversial Horizon system with the previously-announced New Branch IT (NBIT) system, instead turning to external suppliers for a suitable option.
As part of the new procurement plan, worth £492 million, the Post Office is seeking a replacement service provider for £322.8 million and a software provider, which it will award a £169.2 million contract to.
The announcement, posted to the Government website, comes around four years after the Post Office first revealed plans for NBIT after widespread controversy relating to its outgoing system, which just received an extension.
Post Office wants external suppliers to build it a new system
Introduced in 1999 and developed by ICL and Fujitsu, the Horizon system resulted in a miscarriage of justice on a huge scale, with faulty accounting software leading to the false prosecutions of hundreds of subpostmasters. More than 60 people had died before getting justice, and a public inquiry is still ongoing.
Fujitsu has been awarded contracts totalling £2.44 billion since 1999, and with the Post Office confirming that NBIT would not arrive by March 2025, Fujitsu was given a further year to continue providing the Post Office with its Horizon software.
The first of two lots centers around the migration from datacenters to the cloud, including the introduction of a cloud-native platform with enhanced reporting and a zero-trust security architecture. It’s on offer as a five-year contract, from June 2026 to June 2031, and will be worth £322.8 million. Two one-year extensions could take this to June 2033 if the Post Office deems it necessary to “ensure key transformations and transitions have concluded.”
The second lot, a longer 12-year contract worth £169.2 million, will see a third party provide a modular, cloud-hosting retail electronic POS platform, including self-service, pick-up/drop-off and mobile POS. Two optional one-year extensions are also available.
A Post Office spokesperson said (via The Register): “We are committed to moving away from Fujitsu and off the Horizon system and we have a plan in place to introduce a new IT system in stages for postmasters and strategic partners. We will continue to ensure we comply with public procurement regulations as we transform our technology.”
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