COMPUTER Sciences Corporation (CSC), the US software group, was left to pick up the pieces yesterday after Accenture walked away from the NHS’s troubled £12.4 billion IT modernisation project.

In the most serious blow yet for the controversial project, which has been beset with delays and glitches, Accenture said that it would bow out, leaving only three key suppliers — BT, Fujitsu and CSC.

The move comes months after the American consulting group booked a $450 million (£240 million) provision for expected losses from the work, blaming the late delivery of key software designed by iSoft.

Although Accenture’s work, worth about £1.97 billion, will be picked up by CSC, its move to extricate itself from the programme at such an advanced stage raised questions about the feasibility of the procurement terms and the ability of the Government to hit the planned budget and 2010 deadline.

Under the terms of the project the risks associated with it, such as extra costs and delays, lie firmly with the companies involved instead of with NHS Connecting for Health.

The switch is the fourth such upset — BT and Fujitsu have both been forced to switch software sub-contractors and CSC has ditched ComMedica in favour of GE healthcare.

The problems recently led BT to install a new chief executive for its London work.

However fears that iSoft, the troubled healthcare group, would be dealt another blow receded yesterday when it emerged that its work with Accenture on the project would be transferred to CSC by January.

Richard Bacon, Tory MP and a member of the Public Accounts Committee, said: “The decision by a firm as big as Accenture, and for whom the Government is such a big customer, to quit is an eloquent testament to how difficult it is to do the project the way the Government is trying to do it.”

However, Connecting for Health, the agency that runs the programme, insisted that the removal of Accenture would not increase the bill for the project or threaten its deadline. It is delayed by two years already but CfH insists it will make up this lost time.

Under its settlement Accenture will keep £110 million of the £173 million it has been paid by the NHS and pay back the balance. It said it would not be liable for any further penalties and any potential legal action has been abandoned.

REVENUES HIT

Accenture reported flat fourth-quarter figures, as its agreement to exit the NHS programme wiped out gains. It unveiled revenues of $3.97 billion (£2.12 billion) in the three months to August 31, up from $3.92 billion last time. Revenues would have been $4.31 billion without the agreement, it said. Cost-cutting meant that there would be no impact on operating profits, down to $501 million from $509 million, it said.

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