MoD IT System An 'Unmitigated Disaster'
16 Nov 2007 11:08 AM
One of the government's biggest IT contracts - a £5bn deal for new IT at defence locations across the world including and - has run into delays and major problems at the first large site to have the technology installed.
The troubled Defence Information Infrastructure DII project is the latest in a succession of problem IT-based schemes that include systems to support the Child Support Agency, the Criminal Records Bureau, the passport service, and payments to farmers.
A joint investigation by Channel 4 News and Computer Weekly into the DII has found that the Ministry of Defence and its main contractors, the Atlas consortium, had delivered only about a quarter of the systems that were due under the original plan to have been implemented by the end of July 2007.
The overall projected cost of the DII, which was announced to the House of Commons as being a total of about £4bn over 10 years, is now put at more than £5bn, according to the government's expenditure plans for 2007/8. These latest figures include the MoD internal costs on the programme. Spokespeople for the MoD and Atlas have emphasised that the portion of the costs for which the consortium is responsible is within budget.
A Windows-based contract for the DII was awarded to Atlas in March 2005. The aim is to replace more than 300 separate systems with a single IT infrastructure for the army, navy and air force. The systems are due to be installed at hundreds of locations that include submarines, barracks, air force bases and at sites in some militarily sensitive parts of the world. They will support almost every defence activity from helping staff order equipment for troops, to delivering intelligence information from sensors.
The MoD said there have been problems on the DII but numbers of new systems are now ramping up to between 3,000 and 4,000 terminals a month. More than 16,000 systems were operational by the end of October 2007. But under the original contract 70,000 systems were due to have been installed by mid 2007.
The joint investigation has learned that there have been 22 strategy changes to DII. The MoD said that relocations and the move of more than 10,000 posts have contributed to changes in plans.
It has also emerged that the Chief of Defence Materiel General Sir Kevin O'Donoghue said in a letter to staff in October 2007 that there have been "major problems" at the first major site to have DII installed, at Abbey Wood near Bristol. But Sir Kevin added that there is a huge commitment from everyone, including Atlas, to get the problems sorted out.
Channel 4 News and Computer Weekly have seen evidence of dissatisfaction with some of the systems installed so far. Some staff have asked why the roll-out is continuing despite significant disruption.
One defence employee claimed the roll out of DII in the Infantry Guided Weapons integrated project team had been an unmitigated disaster. Another said that if there were a problem with equipment during operations, such as the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System, or a safety incident, there may not be a quick response.
In an internal letter to staff Tom Flesher, Chief of Corporate Services, said there had been a significant degree of disruption at Abbey Wood and that the programme had at times almost stopped. "There is no doubt that progress has not been as smooth as we would have wished and there has been a significant degree of disruption, especially for those pioneering teams that moved in the first phase while procedures were still being sorted out."
He added: "On a number of occasions the programme has almost stopped but sufficient progress has been made to justify continuing ..." But he said that major IT programmes will nearly always cause disruption whether in the private or public sectors.
The MoD said that staff had worked around the problems at Abbey Wood and, in close conjunction with Atlas and the chain of command, had progressively solved the problems and improved capability.
The problems on DII have been revealed by Channel 4 News and Computer Weekly but not by ministers in statements to the House of Commons or in parliamentary answers.
Tory MP Henry Bellingham said: "There has been a complete veil of secrecy over all this. Ministers refuse to talk about it - they don't like me asking my parliamentary questions about it; they don't like answering questions in the House; they brush it to one side ... if someone doesn't get a grip we could be facing a total disaster."
The Atlas consortium, led by one of the government's biggest contractor EDS, says that it met contractual commitments and that problems are being resolved.
In relation to the roll out of the programme to Abbey wood, the largest MoD site affected thus far an Atlas spokesman stated:
"There are challenges around changing the way things are done. We dropped the ball; we should have left another dozen people around for a little longer to help people bed in those new systems. And the latest feedback we have from Abbey Wood is that that situation is stabilised and out client is content with the way we're handling that."
He went on to also say there is a good working relationship with the MoD and there has never been a question of stopping the programme.
The MoD says it is confident that the DII will provide significant military capability to troops.
Watch the report on the Channel 4 website