The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has retained Palantir as the supplier of the IT system to support the Homes for Ukraine programme, despite an earlier plan to find an alternative supplier.
The National Audit Office (NAO) has outlined the development in its newly published report on the scheme to house refugees from the war in Ukraine.
It says DLUHC had an earlier plan to find another supplier when its contract expired last month, calculating that this could provide better value. But it changed its mind after investigating the issue earlier this year, on the basis that it may cost more due to start-up costs for a new supplier, the risks in implementation and potential quality issues.
The department has subsequently extended the contract with Palantir for a further 12 months at a cost of £5.5 million.
It initially accepted an offer from the company to run the system free of charge for six months due to the urgency of getting the scheme up and running after the Russian invasion of Ukraine early last year. Following the initial six months a 12-month, £4.5 million contract was awarded to Palantir.
This was followed early this year by the Government’s chief commercial officer writing to Palantir to note concern about the offer of services to public sector customers at little or nominal cost to gain a commercial foothold, which goes against the procurement principles that require an open competition.
Rushed implementation
NAO says the speed of deployment meant that the usual testing was not carried out and some local authorities, which have been responsible for helping refugees find housing, found the system confusing to use.
The main platform makes it possible for DLUHC, the Home Office and local authorities to share relevant data; but there have been problems as it is not mandatory for councils to collect the data, the report says.
Other findings include that many Ukrainians on the scheme will need new housing solutions when the financial support for sponsors comes to an end, that data on how many are now homeless and on safeguarding issues is now incomplete.
Gareth Davies, head of the NAO, said the Government will need to take important decisions about the scheme soon.
