§ Lord Berkeleyasked Her Majesty's Government:
What disciplinary and other action they plan to take following publication of the National Audit Office's Report criticising the Ministry of Defence for spending £34.6 million on developing a computerised defence intelligence system which never worked. [HL128]
§ The Minister of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Gilbert)The decision in 1988 to procure a bespoke IT system for defence intelligence was based on a sound business case. In the event, the technical risk proved greater than anticipated and the project was overtaken by technological change. In the circumstances, there are no grounds for disciplining any individual for failings in a decision process which ranged over a number of years and in which appropriate financial and technical consultation and authorisation took place at every stage.
Lessons have, however, been learnt. The deficiencies in the procurement process were very clear and the Smart Procurement Initiative launched from the Strategic Defence Review is designed to eliminate them. Smart Procurement will involve users and contractors in a more co-operative relationship in which requirements will be defined more precisely, and risk will be minimised by greater reliance on commercial off-the-shelf technology and by incremental development based on careful trialling and piloting programmes. The replacement system was successfully procured and put into service in a fraction of the time, and at a fraction of the cost, of the original, using just these principles.