The government's proposed ID card scheme is likely to be
as risky as the NHS National Programme for IT, and could cost twice
the estimated £5.4bn price tag, an independent review has
concluded.
The review, the first to analyse the project based on the
expected demand for ID card services, concludes that it is at
"significant risk" of performance failure, which could delay the
project and push up costs.
If ID cards are to deliver all the benefits claimed by the
government, the infrastructure will need to process 3.4 million
transactions a day, putting it on a par with the NHS IT programme
for complexity, the report concludes.
"The NHS National Programme for IT has suffered from a number of
high-profile performance issues over the past 12 months. These
performance issues have an adverse impact on project budget,
benefit and delivery timescales. Given the comparable level of
expected demand for the UK Identity Cards Systems, similar issues
are likely," said Danny Quilton, director of capacity planning and
IT performance specialist Capacitas and the report's author.
Factors such as presenting biometric ID for international air
travel, prescription exemptions and GP visits are all likely to put
significant loads on the ID card infrastructure that will place the
project at risk.
The government could reduce the risk of the project by trying to
limit its scope and promising fewer benefits, the report
concludes.
More on ID cards:
www.computerweekly.com/IDcards
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