Imperial College Projects has been awarded a £700,000 contract by NHS England to evaluate the Federated Data Platform (FDP).
US software firm Palantir signed a £330m contract in 2023 to provide the FDP, which connects data across NHS organisations.
Imperial College’s three-year is assessment is planned to run from March 2026 to understand and demonstrate the impact the FDP programme is having and will have in the future, with findings expected in 2029.
A tender notice, published on 2 February 2026, states that the assessment must discern if the FDP’s objectives have been “achieved, capture key learning and demonstrate value for money and accountability to its stakeholders”.
The evaluation will extend to operational factors of the FDP, including assessing data quality, organisational readiness, and the capacity of local systems to fully utilise the platform.
NHS England adds in the notice that the evaluation is mandated because of the “scale and complexity of FDP”, which is part of the Government Major Projects Portfolio.
The contract, awarded on 29 January, has a total value of £700,237 including VAT. Seven tenders were received, with assessment summaries sent to tenderers on 30 January.
The NHSE medium term planning framework, published in October 2025, stated that all trusts and integrated care boards (ICBS) must be onboarded to the NHS FDP and use its core products to support elective recovery, cancer, and urgent and emergency care.
The six core products for trusts are referral to treatment validation; inpatients, outpatients; discharge planning (OPTICA); Cancer 360 and patient led validation. There is also a system co-ordination centre product available.
However NHS trusts with their own products have consistently pushed back on adopting the FDP, with many saying that they have local systems that are already working well.
Despite 167 trusts having onboarded to the platform, only 79 were actively reporting benefits in February 2025, according to NHSE’s latest figures.
Mark Bailie, a non-executive director and chair of the NHSE data, digital and technology committee, noted at the NHSE board meeting in December, that “most implementations do not yet include the full suite” and identified “accelerating rollout and adoption, supported by robust data and analysis on utilisation” as a priority.
NHS acute trusts which have not adopted the FDP include University Hospitals Birmingham Foundation Trust; Guy’s and St Thomas’ FT; the Northern Care Alliance FT; Nottingham University Hospitals Trust; the Royal Free London group; Sheffield Teaching Hospitals FT; University College London Hospitals FT; and Frimley Health FT.
Greater Manchester is the only ICB to have not signed up to the platform.
A £42,000 contract was awarded to healthcare and life sciences consultancy Akesco and Company in December 2025 to research user needs and identify practical barriers to FDP adoption among trusts and ICSs.
Meanwhile, the British Medical Association published a rapid response in the BMJ in January calling for NHS doctors to limit usage of the FDP because of concerns about Palantir’s work with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Digital Health News contacted NHSE and Imperial College Projects for comment.
