Delays to the roll-out of an online portal are holding up a £50m
road transport administration project.
Key parts of the Department of Transport project, called Tan21, are
running late, with one important part of the initiative - an online
self-service system for road hauliers to update operators' licences
- now 18 months' behind schedule, Computer Weekly has
learned.
The self-service portal will replace a manual system which has been
described by industry body the Freight Transport Association as so
poor that it is leaving many truck fleet operators with doubts
about the legal status of their fleets.
The £9m self-service portal has been rescheduled twice because of
problems securing and integrating the system. A number of software
suppliers are involved in developing the project.
Don Foster MP, Liberal Democrat shadow transport secretary, said,
"It is extremely disappointing that the Tan project appears to have
missed all of its original timetable.
"Yet spending by the department on the scheme continues to rise
year on year, with more than £12m spent in the past year alone and
a total of over £50m spent since 1997," he added.
"Given the sums involved, the delays on what is an increasingly
botched project must be a concern," Foster said.
Christine Norris, business development and communications director
for Tan21, said, "The system has mostly gone live. We are still
conducting trials on the self-service system and are having the
usual problems that one gets with IT projects."
Tan21 is a wide-ranging project with a budget last year of £15.3m.
It aims to link the department's traffic areas - regional bodies
which oversee most road traffic matters - with other transport
bodies such as the DVLA, the Vehicle Inspectorate and the Driving
Standards Authority to create an integrated road transport
administration system. This will also require the bodies' computer
systems to be linked.
A Department of Transport spokeswoman said, "It is overdue because
there has been a problem with the self-service system. We are
examining how the system works and will not launch until we are
certain it is running correctly."
A spokeswoman for CMG one of the suppliers for the Tan project,
said, "CMG fully and successfully delivered on the specific
responsibilities it held within this project, within the agreed
timescales."
The price of integrated transport
- The Department of Transport's Tan21 project will create an
integrated road transport administration system and has cost £50m
so far
- The online self-service system will provide road haulage
operators with a portal to renew their licences. It has cost £9m
and is 18 months late.