Post Office reassesses bids for Horizon replacement – but picks same supplier

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https://www.publictechnology.net/2026/0 ... -supplier/

The organisation revealed its choice of replacement platform almost six weeks ago, but the deal remains subject to a standstill period until 8 July, having seemingly been subject to challenge
After two delays to the intended award of the contract for replacing the Horizon IT system, the Post Office has reassessed bids for the deal – and reaffirmed its original choice of supplier.

Procurement records published online in May revealed that the Post Office had picked two suppliers to support the replacement of Horizon: Accenture, which was chosen to take over the delivery and support of existing services; and OneView Commerce, which was picked to deliver a new electronic point of sale (EPOS) system to replace the Fujitsu platform.

While a five-year £300m-plus deal with Accenture came into effect as scheduled at the end of the mandatory 10-day standstill period that followed the decision to award, the OneView Commerce engagement was subject to two further extensions of this period, delaying the formal signing of the contract by a total of 23 days, as revealed by PublicTechnology.

Enshrined in law, the standstill period “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.

The agreement with OneView is still subject to a standstill period – until a new threshold of 8 July – but this follows a formal reassessment of the two bids for the contract and, effectively, a new award decision. Software provider Escher was the other bidder – but has lost out again, a newly published commercial notice reveals.

“A new award decision was taken… on 26 June 2026,” the document says. “The assessment summaries issued on 21 May 2026 have been revoked and replaced by revised assessment summaries issued on 26 June 2026. OneView Commerce… remains the successful supplier.”

If the deal is successfully signed off in a week’s time, the chosen supplier 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 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.