Comment by hermitcrab
2 days ago
The failed UK NHS IT project, known as the National Programme for IT (NPfIT), cost the UK government over £10 billion and produced almost nothing of value. I'm surprised that didn't get a mention.
Again those bastards, Fujitsu, were involved. They even sued UK government and won £465 million settlement when their contract was cancelled. But, despite this and their complicity in covering up the failures of the Horizons posts office system, the UK government is still giving them fat contracts.
If senior managers can preside over a massive failure and walk away with a huge pension, there isn't much incentive for them to do better, is there?
The GOV.UK project is a rare success story for IT in the UK government. They need to take that team, give them big incentives to stay, and give them more projects. Why are we outsourcing to international companies that don’t give a shit when we have a wealth of talent at home? Why aren’t we investing in our own people?
The people who did the UK COVID app also did a good job, as far as I am aware. The lessons seems to be that it is better to employ a small, experienced and talented team and get out of their way, than outsource to a huge government contractor.
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Despite its overall failure, some parts of the infrastructure and national applications, such as the Summary Care Record and the Electronic Prescriptions Service, are considered to have survived and continue to be used
That doesn't seem much of a return on a £10 billion investment.