Another Disastrous Government IT Project

After I mentioned the MoD IT project disaster last week, there is another one in the news. This time the project hasn’t (yet) been canned, but the expected cost has risen from £184 million to £400 million according to a report over at silicon.com.

The £400m government project for a single magistrates courts case management system has been slammed as “disastrous” and among the worst seen by MPs.
The 10-year deal for the Libra system across 300 magistrates courts was initially signed with sole bidder ICL, now Fujitsu Services, back in 1998 for £184m under the private finance initiative (PFI) framework.

It is beyond my comprehension how a project can be allowed to get that much over budget, and how people can still keep their jobs!