NAO reveals more MoD IT bungles

NEWS The National Audit Office (NAO) has uncovered details of more past mistakes in the UK government's IT investment programme. In 1989 the Ministry of Defence (MoD) chose GEC-Plessey to provide messaging technology to link 500 terminals at 13 sites in the UK at a cost of £21m. But according to the NAO report, by 1997 the so-called Common User Data System still wasn't working. At that point, an off-the-shelf solution was selected and implemented instead for £1.3m. Furthermore, a project to upgrade the MoD's pension systems was approved in 1994 at an expected cost of £18.9m. By March 1995 the estimated cost had expanded to £41.1m and the delivery date had slipped by four years. Sir John Bourn, head of the NAO, said in a statement: "In the 1998-99 period, the MoD once again failed to keep their spending within the limits set by Parliament. And the loss of public funds through abortive expenditure on IT projects is clearly a cause for concern." This is the third consecutive year the MoD has been reprimanded for overspending. For more information see http://www.coi.gov.uk/coi/depts/deptlist.html .