# Northern Ireland adds £15M to Fujitsu education deal without competition

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/northern-ireland-adds-15m-to-fujitsu-education-deal-without-competition/
- Published: 2026-09-02T10:17:00+00:00
- Original publisher: The Register
- Original article: https://www.theregister.com/public-sector/2026/09/02/northern-ireland-adds-15m-to-fujitsu-education-deal-without-competition/5293648
- Topics: Asia, World

## Key points

- Education Authority adds £15M to Fujitsu deal without competitive tender
- Contract now capped at £55.4M, extended to March 2032
- Extension proceeds despite Fujitsu's Horizon scandal scrutiny

## Summary

Northern Ireland's Education Authority plans to add £15 million to Fujitsu's EA One contract without holding a new competitive tender, raising the deal's ceiling to £55.4 million and extending the Japanese IT supplier's presence until March 2032. The move comes despite ongoing scrutiny of Fujitsu over its role in the Post Office Horizon scandal, which saw hundreds of subpostmasters wrongfully convicted; the firm has voluntarily paused bidding for new UK government contracts but is still permitted to negotiate extensions to existing agreements, such as this one.

The authority intends to trigger five pre-existing one-year extension options, citing the need for continuity while it develops a replacement for the heavily customised Oracle-based finance, HR and payroll system through its new EnAble Programme, targeted for 2032. It argues switching suppliers before a replacement is ready would cause disruption and duplicated costs, and says EA One continues to meet performance targets. The £15 million addition equals exactly half the contract's original published value of £30 million; the deal has grown substantially since its initial 2015 award of around £20 million, including a £9.2 million modification in 2021. Separately, Fujitsu recently won a £125 million Northern Ireland Department of Finance contract, having begun bidding before its voluntary undertaking took effect.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.