DWP Extending Atos Disability Reassessments Contract

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will be renewing its contract for disability reassessments with French IT firm Atos.

This is despite the firm’s wishes to remove itself from the deal in February, but it would be charged by the government for early termination.

Atos initially claimed that it would continue to hold responsibility for assessment tests until a new company could be found to take over.

Despite the contract renewal, DWP is still intending for this to happen and has begun the procurement process for the next supplier.

An Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) notice reveals that the Department is has secured Atos as an “interim arrangement.”

DWP Still Seeking New Provider

According to DWP, it is looking to replace its current IT systems separately, as well as seeking an entirely new supplier.

“To make sure claimants get a good service during transformation, we are transferring the IT separately and at later date than the rest of service transferring in 2015,” it claimed.

“We have therefore asks Atos to continue to provide the currently IT services for a further year. In the meantime, work has started on planning for how we replace the IT,” DWP added.

The Department also argues that it was justified in selecting Atos to carry on rather than advertising the situation to other supplier because others would not be able to replicate it.

DWP recently announced it was beginning the rollout of its transformational IT programme, focusing more on SMEs and committing to a tower ICT model.    

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