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Story: The government can't handle the truth

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I have worked on many contracts for the MOD and other Governement departments. In the case of the MOD it is clear to me, at least, that the Whitehall folk are either completely stupid, or must be in a torpor. The massive multi-million £ound cotracts that have been handed (recently) to the 'usual' companies on the procurement/consultancies lists (preferred suppliers), displays, yet again, the inevitable institutionalised attitude toward choosing a vendor/provider/supplier of goods and services.

For the past 20 years I have seen the same companies pick up these lucrative contracts. I see no evidence to support the voracity of their claims to be able to provide the appropriate services. In many cases the contract has not been fulfilled. When I have enquired as to why this or that company had been awarded a particular £4Billion contract (how could I mention £4Billion! What on earth prompted that?), the response was (and usually is) "Well, they're the only company big enough to do the job, and we know them well from working with them for years". I fail to see how this attitude can provide the best, most efficient and cost effective provision of goods and services for our institutions. It smacks heavily of relationships and has the whiff of the 'old-boy-networking' about it.

On the ground, people just have to get on and work with the providers. But the conflicts, irritations, and frictions that regularly occur, are not dealt with by the particular department. They are surpressed on the basis that a complaining employee is 'rocking-the-boat', and that the external consultant knows best. Given the vast amounts of our taxes that are shovelled into these consultancies/providers, I guess it's a case of hoping that they deliver and not getting in their way in the process in case it costs even more money. Which it always does.

Our Government needs to have a panel of impartial and very aggressive experts to oversee all Tenders. Not one of these should have worked for any company that is tendering and none should have worked for any department that is procuring. Only then will we be able to trust that our money is being spent efficiently and not lining the pockets of fat-cat directors and shareholders.

I would certainly be up for that job as I am sick up and fed with watching my cash disappear into foreign bank accounts via the slippery-shoulders of some of our current consultancies and service providers. The whole way that contracts are handed out needs to be shaken up and shaken out. Transparency is the only answer and that must extend on into the contract and through to it's completion.

This country has spent billions on IT contracts over the last 30 years. Some were never completed, some self-destructed, some were never started, some completed but did not provide what was contracted, and some left a trail of havoc when companies went bust and left the Governement with a product that was no longer supported.

Interestingly, some of the worst offenders are Gartner Magic Quadrant dwellers. But that's another story.

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