UK: NHS Saves £4.5m in E-Auction For IT Hardware
In conjunction with Collaborative Procurement organisations, a two-hour e-auction, organised by the Office of Government Commerce's Coordinated Procurement Division and run by TradingPartners saw 11 IT hardware suppliers battle to get the business of 137 NHS Trusts, grouped into six regional consortia. Between them, these consortia account for nearly a third of all the desktops and laptops needed by the NHS over the next 18 months.
Elektronische Gesundheitskarte: Vom Groß-Test zum Klein-Test
Nach den ursprünglichen Planungen der Projektgesellschaft Gematik sollte die elektronische Gesundheitskarte in drei bis fünf Testregionen mit jeweils 100.000 Versicherten zum Einsatz kommen. Nun soll mit der erfolgten staatlichen Steuerung der Flächentest auf zwei Regionen beschränkt werden. Offen ist noch, ob die Zahl der Testpersonen in diesen Regionen verkleinert oder vergrößert wird. Die regierungsamtliche Beschränkung auf zwei Testregionen soll die Kosten reduzieren und die Einführung des Gesamtsystems beschleunigen.
UK: Info Commissioner criticises ID Cards Bill
The Information Commissioner believes the measures set out in the National Identify Cards Bill go "well beyond" the requirements to set up a secure, reliable and trustworthy ID card system.
In a statement published on the organisation's website, to the Bill that was passed by Parliament on 18 October, Richard Thomas, the Commissioner expressed several issues of concern relating to privacy and data protection of personal information of an individual.
UK: Hounslow outsources revenue and benefits
The London Borough of Hounslow has this week awarded an outsourcing contract worth £50m.
The council appointed BPO service provider Liberata on a 10-year contract to manage a host of Hounslow’s back office functions including the administration and payment of housing and council tax benefits, council tax and national non-domestic rates billing, collection and recovery as well as the preparation of grant claims and government returns. The company will also provide a call centre and some front office services.
UK bottom for e-usage
The UK has fallen behind the rest of Europe in usage of e-government services, according to the latest official EU figures. The statistics will come as an embarrassment to the UK's e-government programme just days before the launch of its IT strategy.
The report, issued by the EU's statistics service on 27 October 2005, shows that the UK is at the bottom of league tables on all aspects of interaction with public authorities via the internet.