EmailThe MP for South Norfolk wrote to Amyas Morse, head of the NAO, detailing his concerns about the "additional money" given to BT by the Department of Health (DoH) last year and asked the watchdog to "examine whether expenditure of this sum represents value for money".
Bacon, a member of Parliament's Public Accounts Committee, says by his own calculations the deal should be worth around £100m at most, adding that "the remaining £446m is, in my mind, not accounted for, and so raises questions of the proper conduct of business and the proper use of public money".
He estimated that the deal should have included £25m for 25 RiO site installations at community and mental health trusts; £35m for support at seven existing Cerner Millennium sites over five years; £30m for new Cerner installations at three sites; and £10m for the transfer of work from Fujitsu's data centre to BT's.
"I am aware that the DoH was in a difficult position. Once Fujitsu had withdrawn, support was needed for the NHS trusts that had installed Cerner systems from Fujitsu. I am concerned, however, that support for those trusts was bought at an extreme cost to the taxpayer," Bacon said in his letter, dated 20 August 2010.
"No department should put itself in the position where it has to pay whatever a supplier wishes to charge. Indeed, any department that puts itself in such a position leaves itself open to accusations of maladministration."
He goes on to to say that an that an investigation would be "useful" in clearing up any ambiguity over costs.
"If nothing else it would be put to rest the concerns that many in the NHS are expressing over these extra payments," Bacon concludes.
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