Queensland Health is on the hunt for IT suppliers to help bulk up its tech team as it works to complete the ongoing replacement of its systems interoperability infrastructure.
The government Department is after a scalable team of IT professionals with proficiency in application software development and support services, specifically in integration systems, integration migration and integration design-build-test-operate capabilities, under an IT standing offer arrangement.
The team of IT contractors is expected to complement Queensland Health’s existing Interoperability Project delivery team capability to help it deliver the implementation phase of the project and undertake integration-related project. The contractors are expected to provide capabilities in integration design-build-test-operate and migration services.
According to tender documents, Queensland Health wants the contractors to support the migration and re-engineering of the existing interfaces into the new Rhapsody-based enterprise integration platform, while also working in conjunction with other contracted service providers to deliver and maintain environments and systems required to support the project activities.
The call for contractors comes as the Department works to replace its existing enterprise integration platform, which is made up of several integration and middleware technologies, including Oracle eGATE, JCAPS and Glassfish.
In 2015, Orion Health was awarded the tender to replace the existing integration platform with its Rhapsody integration platform for the Department’s clinical systems.
The project, which is part of a broader program – reportedly worth $30 million – to overhaul Queensland Health’s interoperability infrastructure, represents a necessary step for the replacement of the decades-old hospital-based corporate information system (HBCIS), which is used throughout the state’s hospitals.
Queensland Health, having completed the planning and design phase of the project, expects that the implementation phase of the project can be completed in 24 months from its commencement, but concedes that it needs additional capacity and capability from suppliers to support this timeframe.
The project comes amid a massive $1.2 billion, 20-year health IT and eHealth investment strategy for the state, which reportedly includes $730 million for clinical software, including a new patient administration system.
