The hidden cost of NHS Estate Software

11 Sept

5 questions to ask before you sign a CAFM contract

Key takeaways

Most procurement decisions are made on the initial price, not the actual three-year cost
Consultancy and account management fees are the most common source of post-signature cost creep
Single-version Software as a Service (SaaS) avoids the separate upgrade projects that fragmented systems require
A vendor's ownership can change after signature, which can have real consequences for your data and terms
Data ownership at exit is rarely tested until a Trust actually needs to leave
Five specific questions can surface most of this before a contract is signed, not after

Most procurement processes are still won or lost on the headline number. Trusts that have been through a system change before tending to recognise a more familiar pattern instead: the initial price looks competitive, and the real cost shows up twelve to eighteen months in, through consultancy fees, account management time, and charges that weren't obvious at signature. Modelling the full three-to-five-year cost is the single biggest lever a procurement team has.

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Below are five questions that tend to surface the gap early:

1. Is account management time fixed, or billable once you're live?

A competitive license fee can sit alongside an open-ended cost in ongoing support. Ask whether that time is capped once onboarding finishes or billed as needed indefinitely.

2. Do costs scale with per-user or per-data charges?

As your portfolio, user base or data volume grows, therefore does the cost grow in a way you can calculate today, or only in a way you'll find out about later?

3. Who owns the cost if implementation overruns?

Timelines slip more often than vendors admit during the sales process. If delivery runs longer, does that risk sit with the vendor, or does it land on your budget?

4. Is the platform genuinely single-version, or built from acquired products?

A platform stitched together from separate acquisitions usually means separate upgrade cycles and separate costs to keep each part current. A true single-version SaaS platform pushes updates to every customer at the same time, at no extra cost, because there's only one version to maintain.

5. What happens to your data if the vendor's ownership changes?

Software vendors get acquired and restructured. It's a fair, unemotional practical question to ask upfront: if that happens, does your Trust keep full control of its data and terms? Or could you be required to migrate to different underlying technology on someone else's timeline, with less control than you started with?

What makes the real difference

The way how Invida delivers their solutions and price them are fundamentally different than other vendors. Invida offers a flat, portfolio-based pricing with no per-user or per-data charges. A fixed-fee onboarding is also a part of the contract where any potential overruns are absorbed by Invida, rather than being passed on to the Trust.

The platform offers a genuinely single-version SaaS solution, meaning all updates are released free of charge and you’re always on the latest version, embracing the technology developments without having to pay upgrade charges. And lastly, a Trust's data stays under the Trust's control regardless of what happens to any vendor's ownership structure.