§ Mr. SayeedTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department if she will list IT contracts in the Department above £50 million in each of the last 10 years; what the inception date for each system was; when it became fully functional; when it became fully debugged; and what the cost of over-runs has been. [99004]
§ Yvette CooperThe information is as follows:
LOCCS (various court-based IT systems): The EDS (LOCCs) contract was awarded to EDS in September 1996, to provide IT systems to Crown and county courts. The lifetime cost of the contract is assessed at £124 million, and expenditure in 2001–02 totalled £33 million.
The initial rollout of equipment to courts was completed in August 2001. The contract was fully functional from award. The contract includes 96W provisions to test software prior to release, and to fix software 'bugs' which are attributable to supplier software.
The LOCCS rollout was completed to time, and subsequent major work programmes have been delivered to time.
ARAMIS (Resource Accounting and Management Information System): This is a PFI contract for the provision of accounting, financial, HR/payroll and management information services. It was awarded in December 1997 and runs until January 2007. Its current anticipated life-time cost is £192 million, which includes enhancements to the service.
Most services have IT elements and are delivered across an IT infrastructure provided through the contract. However, the IT system elements of the contract are not separated out from the main business functions. All the services are being provided within the lifetime of the contract, and major work programmes 97W have been delivered to time. Debugging of the IT system elements is a process which continues through the lifetime of the contract.
Libra (magistrates courts IT systems): The contract signed in July 2002 varied from the original contracts. It included the provision of Libra infrastructure and Office Automation only. These have been successfully rolled out to over 90 per cent. of the magistrates courts. Five (of 42) MCCs remain in the rollout programme and these will be completed by spring 2003. The Office Automation software consists of 'off-the-shelf Microsoft Office software which does not require debugging.
The original contracts for Libra included provision for a bespoke case management software application for magistrates courts. This is now being sourced through two other contracts, the combined value of which is expected to be £86 million. These contracts include provisions to test the software prior to release, and to fix software "bugs" which are attributable to supplier software.
The contract with Fujitsu Services for the delivery of Libra has been varied twice since initial completion in December 1998. This has resulted in changes to the baseline making it inappropriate to compare spend to date across an original and two variants of the contract. The actual spend against the contract can be summarised as follows:
Original ICL Contract Dec 1998: Total contracted charges expected to arise over contract life of 10.5 years—£184 million.Negotiated ICL Contract May 2000: Total contracted charges expected to arise over contract life of 14.5 years—£319 millionNegotiated Fujitsu Services Contract July 2002: Total contract charges expected to arise over contract life of 8.5 years—£232 million