UK Government Awards Controversial Capita £31M Contract for Pandemic Contact Center

The UK government has awarded a beleaguered outsourcer, Capita, a £31 million contract to build and operate a public health contact center. The deal, which begins in November, has an initial three-year term and could scale up significantly during a major pandemic. Despite criticism over Capita's performance on the Civil Service Pension Scheme (CSPS), the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) selected Capita for its Single Service Centre (SSC).

The SSC is an omnichannel contact center supporting the agency and other organizations. The UK government estimates that a COVID-scale emergency could increase the center's total workload to £350 million.

Capita's contract with the UKHSA has been met with controversy, as it comes amidst ongoing disputes over payments related to the CSPS administration. The government has withheld £10 million in payments and called in an independent auditor due to Capita's performance on the pension scheme.

UKHSA plans for the SSC to handle routine public health services while being able to scale up during future health emergencies and other national incidents. The framework for the Single Service Centre has an initial five-year term, with a maximum value assigned to each supplier of £157.5 million including tax.

The SSC is expected to communicate with the public on a person-to-person level during health emergencies, allowing citizens to contact UKHSA for advice, order tests, or request therapeutics. If a health emergency occurs on a scale similar to COVID-19, the value of the work could increase substantially from £39 million for business-as-usual activities to an estimated £350 million, including tax.