Rio Community EPR · UK public procurement notice

Key justifications

Single-supplier technical dependency: The current Community EPR is deeply integrated with local workflows, interfaces, device endpoints, and vendor-specific data structures, making immediate replacement technically impractical and unsafe.

Continuity of clinical care and patient safety: Any interruption, parallel migration, or hurried cutover risks data loss, access delays, and clinical safety incidents for core community services.

Interoperability with existing systems: The incumbent provides proven, live interfaces to acute EPRs, pathology, community devices, and commissioning feeds that would require time-consuming re-engineering if changed.

Data migration and integrity risk: Preserving a stable supported platform until a carefully planned migration reduces the likelihood of corrupted historical records, audit gaps, and downtime.

Co-terming and strategic procurement alignment: Extending the incumbent allows the Trust to co-term community and acute solutions so the forthcoming competitive procurement can target a single, comprehensive EPR, improving future competition and total cost of ownership.

Time required for safe procurement and transition: A competitive tender, detailed clinical evaluation, implementation planning, and a safe transition window require a multi‑year runway that a direct award extension provides.

Value for money compared with stop-gap replacement: Replacing the system now would incur duplicate costs for parallel licensing, re-training, new interfaces, and accelerated implementation premiums, which outweigh a limited extension to the incumbent.

Supplier capability and service continuity: Access UK Ltd has demonstrable operational support, local experience, and existing contractual responsibility for system maintenance and clinical uptime.

Financial and commercial rationale

Avoidance of sunk and duplicate costs: Extending the incumbent prevents immediate duplication of licensing, integration, and training costs that would be unavoidable with a fast replacement.

Controlled procurement spend: A fixed-term extension allows budgeting and consolidation of bids in the downstream tender, improving negotiation leverage and total contract value control.

Reasonable short-term pricing lever: The direct award can include performance and pricing reviews to protect value for money during the extension term.