Signing of Post Office Horizon replacement deal delayed

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https://www.publictechnology.net/2026/0 ... l-delayed/

The standstill period before signing a contract with a new provider has now twice been extended, with the Post Office declining to comment on whether its decision is facing challenge

Having finally picked a supplier to replace the Horizon IT system, the Post Office now faces further delays before entering a £170m contract with its new tech provider.

Commercial documents released last month revealed that the Post Office had picked two firms – Accenture and OneView Commerce – to fulfil Horizon replacement agreements cumulatively worth almost £500m. In lot one, Accenture is to take over the delivery and support of existing services, while OneView Commerce is the chosen provider for lot two, covering the delivery of a new electronic point of sale (EPOS) system to replace Horizon and support Post Office transactions in the long term.

Following the announcement of the award decisions, the engagements with both firms were subject to a standstill period before the deals were to be formally signed on 3 June.

Enshrined in law, the mandatory standstill period is “provides an opportunity for suppliers to raise any concerns about, or formally challenge, the award decision before the contract is entered into” according to government guidance.

While the Post Office’s contract with Accenture appears to have proceeded as expected, it has now emerged that the standstill period for the deal with OneView Commerce has twice been extended – first to 15 June, and again to 26 June. The earliest that the engagement can now come into effect is Saturday 27 June.

The notice reveals that both chosen suppliers beat off submissions from one other bidder to win the Horizon-replacement deals: Accenture got the better of IBM; while OneView Commerce was chosen ahead of competitor Escher.

PublicTechnology asked the Post Office for any available further detail on the extended standstill period, and whether the unsuccessful bidder had mounted a formal challenge to the award decision.

In response, a spokesperson said: “The standstill period for lot two has been extended, and we will share further information as soon as we are able.”

If and when the deal is successfully signed off, OneView Commerce will enter into a 10-year engagement valued at £169.2m. According to commercial documents, the new EPOS system to be delivered by the firm is intended “to transform Post Office Limited’s retail technology platform to meet evolving business, operational, and customer requirements”.

Unlike Horizon – which was developed specifically for the Post Office – the new system is a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) product and is required to “meet the authority’s specific requirements with minimal bespoke customisations”, the award notice says.

Fujitsu remains under contract for the provision of Horizon services until March 2027; the Japanese tech giant was most recently retained by the Post Office on a one-year extension, valued at almost £50m.

Since first entering into an agreement in 1999, the government-owned company has spent about £2.5bn with Fujitsu on Horizon-related deals. The troubled IT system has been responsible for almost 1,000 wrongful convictions, and 13 deaths by suicide have been attributed to the hardships caused by the platform.