$10m US Contract Will Generate Jobs in Sittingbourne

01 December 2011

Proquis have been selected by The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in the US to supply, install, configure and implement an electronic Document Control and Quality Management System into 165 of its sites.

Proquis Inc. will be fulfilling the contract and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Proquis Ltd., an employee owned UK company based at the Kent Science Park in Sittingbourne, Kent. This contract will result in an expansion including the employment of a number of additional people in Sittingbourne and in their US location near Chicago.
Kent Science Park based company Proquis have been selected by The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in the US to supply, install, configure and implement an electronic Document Control and Quality Management System into 165 of its sites. The contract is anticipated to last for 5 years, with Proquis providing a range of services to the VA as well as the software. There are around 200 users on each of the 165 sites that will be using Proquis Enterprise, and the value of the project is expected to be over $10m. The contract coincides with recent calls from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) for the government to reorientate the UK’s economy towards exports. The CBI wants one-in-four small-to-medium-sized enterprises to be exporting by 2020. Proquis’ tie-up with VA will result in both an export of software and skills from the UK to the US. Whilst the contract is based in the US, it will create jobs on both sides of the Atlantic, a number of which will be in Sittingbourne. The software in question is Proquis Enterprise, an “enabling” technology that supports enterprise knowledge management, operational intelligence, transparency and transactional quality through an integrated structure of records and reports. The aim of the project is to support, enhance and sustain the deployment of ISO 9001:2008 standards within the Veteran Health Administration (VHA) organisation. Proquis Enterprise has already been supplied to a wide range of organisations around the world over the last 10 years. David Best, Chief Operating Officer at Proquis stated: “This is a very exciting project and we look forward to working closely with the VHA on this contract. We have worked with VHA Laboratories in the past and they have a clear objective of improving business processes and standardising good quality management. There is no doubt that the VHA are dedicated to improving patient care using highly efficient and exceptional quality processes and systems. We are pleased to be able to assist with these developments.” James Speck, Site Director at Kent Science Park comments: “The contract with The Department of Veterans Affairs is good news for Proquis and good news for the Park. One of the Park’s goals is to help with the economic development of Swale and in order to fulfil the contract Proquis will be looking to employ more staff in Sittingbourne. We look forward to welcoming these new starters to the Park.”

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Proquis