Health NZ is seeking a new enterprise data science and analytics platform to replace its current environment and bring hundreds of analysts using legacy tools onto a single national system.
A registration of interest (ROI) released this week says the platform will provide a secure central workspace for Health NZ analysts and data scientists and must be selected, contracted and implemented in time for users to begin migrating before June 2027.
Health NZ says its current data science solutions support more than 700 licensed users across a range of analytical tools and products.
Around 300 people actively use the current central platform, while more than 400 users across the regions and former district health boards use other legacy tools that Health NZ intends to migrate over time.
The new platform will need to support R code and Python at a minimum, as well as SQL and notebook tools such as Jupyter and Quarto. Health NZ is also seeking the ability to run multiple jobs concurrently, manage centrally governed software packages and support reproducible and shareable analytical projects.
The ROI specifically asks suppliers to explain how they would support the transition of existing R code written and deployed in RStudio to their proposed platform, including migration tools and a recommended migration pathway.
Health NZ will manage the actual migration and organisational change separately. Its existing Snowflake data warehouse will also be retained rather than replaced.
Data must stay in NZ or Australia
The platform will integrate with Snowflake and use Microsoft Entra ID for single sign-on and role-based access.
All Health NZ information must be hosted, stored and processed in New Zealand or Australia, with no cross-cloud data movement or storage, processing or access from other jurisdictions.
Suppliers will need to identify where storage, backups, disaster recovery, sub-processors and support and administrative access will be located.
The platform must also align with HISO 10029 and the New Zealand Information Security Manual and support Health NZ’s High information confidentiality classification.
Health NZ says Māori data sovereignty, data governance and stewardship will help shape use of the platform, with shortlisted suppliers to provide a more detailed response on these issues during the subsequent request for proposal.
The system is expected to initially support about 300 users, growing towards 700 as regional users are migrated and potentially beyond 700 over time. It will need to support unattended scheduled jobs, connections with Health NZ storage and secure file transfer and publishing to downstream tools such as Shiny, Power BI, Qlik or GIS.
Health NZ also wants a vendor-supported “evergreen” platform under which the supplier manages updates to the platform, development environment, drivers, languages and packages rather than Health NZ managing the upgrade lifecycle itself.
The procurement will move from the ROI to an RFP for shortlisted suppliers, followed by a deep-dive and best and final offer stage. Shortlisted suppliers are expected to be notified by October 26, with the RFP released that week and an anticipated contract start in December.
The initial contract is expected to run for five years, with renewal rights potentially extending it to 10 years. Health NZ has not disclosed an indicative budget and says full pricing and total cost of ownership will be assessed at the RFP stage.
Registrations close at midday on September 25.
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