The pivotal contract for delivering a countrywide IT infrastructure for the Australian government’s $500-million personally controlled e-health records (PCEHR) system has been bagged by an Accenture-led consortium, which includes Oracle and Orion Health.

According to reports, there were four serious bidders for this major infrastructure project, the tender for which had called for a "national infrastructure partner" to design, build, integrate and test the PCEHR. The three unsuccessful bidders for the contract reportedly included CSC, IBM and Fujitsu.

The contract – which was initially supposed to commence in July - was awarded this week, for an undisclosed amount. It chiefly involves the detailed design and building up of the entire PCEHR system, as well as its integration with existing health IT infrastructure across the country, and its testing.

Accenture apparently began recruitments for the project last week, and is chiefly seeking staff that has specific experience in Oracle software - including service bus integration engine, business intelligence enterprise suite, identity management architecture, and Siebel OnDemand customer relationship management.

The contract involves the construction of an operations centre and core ICT infrastructure for the PCEHR program, the development of portals for healthcare suppliers and consumers for accessing e-health records. Overall, the consortium will also be responsible for integration of the PCEHR with similar e-health record systems being developed by state governments.