Palantir Technologies Inc (NYSE:PLTR), the American software company, has secured a £480 million contract from the National Health Service to manage patient data.
This five-year deal involves creating a data platform in collaboration with Accenture (NYSE:ACN), aimed at enhancing the sharing of medical records across different NHS services.
Confirming multiple reports earlier in the day, the agreement to create the new Federated Data Platform (FDP) was announced on Tuesday afternoon.
The NHS said it expects £25.6 million of investment in the platform in the first year, followed by up to £330 million over the seven year contract period.
Palantir, a firm with ties to the US defence and intelligence sectors, was awarded the contract ahead of British unicorn Quantexa.
The NHS said the FDP software will "sit across NHS trusts and integrated care systems allowing them to connect data they already hold in a secure and safe environment".
It insisted that GP data "will not be part of the national platform" and the FDP "does not change data controllership arrangements so if there is data sharing agreement between integrate care system (ICS) and GPs locally to share data for care co-ordination then they can use the local version of FDP for that purpose".
Sir Chris Whitty, England's chief medical officer, has endorsed the platform as a transformative tool for improving medical treatments and research.
In the face of Palantir's impending success, Quantexa had advocated for the selection of a British company, citing concerns over reliance on a single foreign contractor.
The NHS has assured a transparent procurement process, while Palantir, co-founded by tech billionaire Peter Thiel, maintains that it does not engage in data mining or selling.
The NHS's use of Palantir's software since March has been under scrutiny, with calls for strict data privacy safeguards from medical bodies.
Foxglove, a non-profit that monitors big tech relationships with government, hinted that NHS England may face a legal challenge over the lack of an opt-out for individuals.
“Patients must always have the right to choose who sees their health record for uses beyond their care,” Foxglove director Cori Crider told the Guardian. “Anything else is a legal non-starter and will sink the FDP before this half-billion-pound dirigible sets sail.”