[LINK] [UK] Taxman tears up the rulebook to award IT upgrade

[Bernard Robertson-Dunn]

Taxman tears up the rulebook to award IT upgrade 
Silicon.com
Wednesday 14th November 2001   12:55pm 
http://www.silicon.com/bin/bladerunner?30REQEVENT=&REQAUTH=21046&14001REQSUB=REQINT1=49141

The Inland Revenue has bent the law by awarding a multi-million pound deal
to Accenture to upgrade its National Insurance computer system (Nirs2)
without going through the correct tender procedures.

But a report from the National Audit Office (NAO) has concluded the tax
department had no choice after the original contract was drafted badly.

After years of IT blunders will the government learn from its mistakes? 

etc etc....


<brd>
The reports referred to are available from
http://www.nao.gov.uk/whatsnew.htm

Couldn't happen here, could it? After all, we do have world's best practice
in DOFA looking after the country's interests.

I wonder if the IT outsourcing contracts are going to get in the way of the
government re-shuffling departmental responsibilities. If they do, I doubt
that we would hear all the gory details.

-- 
Politics is not the art of the possible.
It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable. 
-- John Kenneth Galbraith   

Regards
brd

Bernard Robertson-Dunn
Sydney Australia
brd@austarmetro.com.au