Palantir Technologies—Palantir awarded NHS COVID-19 data contract for £1, later expanded to £23.5M for broader data management
In March 2020, Palantir received an emergency NHS contract at a nominal £1 to build the NHS COVID-19 Data Store. The contract was extended in December 2020 to a two-year £23.5M deal reaching beyond COVID to Brexit planning and general business operations. Investigations revealed Palantir had been lobbying NHS leaders since at least July 2019, before the pandemic, raising concerns the emergency was used to secure a strategic foothold in NHS data infrastructure.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Healthcare Access | +toward | contextual | +0.20 |
| Surveillance Technology | +toward | primary | -1.00 |
| User Privacy | -against | secondary | -0.50 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.419 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (high ×1.5) × confidence (0.64)
Evidence (2 signals)
Computer Weekly reported on civil liberties concerns over Palantir's NHS COVID data store
Computer Weekly documented how the NHS COVID-19 Data Store built by Palantir expanded from emergency pandemic response to broader data management, with the £23.5M contract covering Brexit planning and general operations beyond its original scope.
Bureau of Investigative Journalism revealed Palantir had lobbied NHS months before COVID emergency contract
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism reported that Palantir's UK boss Louis Mosley hosted NHS England chair David Prior at a dinner in July 2019 to discuss NHS data, months before the pandemic emergency contract was awarded. The £1 contract was later expanded to £23.5M for data management services beyond COVID.