The MoD's Defence Information Infrastructure (DII programme is
running 18 months late and will be £182m over budget if nothing
changes, a
report by the National Audit Office (NAO) has revealed.
Despite trying to avoid the problems associated with previous
government IT projects, the DII encountered serious problems in
rolling out computer hardware and creating software.
The forecast cost of the DII has increased by £182m since the
contract was first signed in 2005. Total costs are now estimated to
be £7.1bn.
"Key elements are running late and the delays have led to
continuing expenditure on less capable legacy systems," said the
report.
The MoD contracted to have 62,800 terminals in place by the end
of July 2007. At the end of April 2008, only 29,000 had been
delivered.
The NAO report said, "These problems caused major delays to the
roll-out of the first stage of the DII programme.
"The DII programme assumed that the roll-out of infrastructure
and terminals would be more straightforward than transpired and
that it would proceed at an identical pace at all sites."
The report said of the software delays, "The programme's
inefficient processes for software design, issues with the designs
themselves and changes in the Department's detailed requirements
for core software have been the main causes of delay."
The DII programme is designed to replace 300 different computer
systems.
Edward Leigh MP, chairman of the
Public Accounts Committee, said, "The programme started with
good intentions: it aimed to identify and avoid the risks that have
dogged other government IT projects over the years. It is therefore
disappointing that it has suffered problems with its roll-out of
hardware and software.
"The MoD needs to work hard to ensure that the programme is
installed as quickly as possible, without any further cost
increases. This system is needed now, so the MoD must pull out all
the stops to get the programme back on track."
When complete, the programme will incorporate 150,000 terminals
for 300,000 users at more than 2,000 sites. It will allow access to
around 1,000 applications. A 10-year contract was signed in March
2005.
The parts of the programme which the MoD has on contract are
estimated to cost £4.9bn. If the entire planned programmed is
contracted out, the total cost is expected to be £7.1bn.
Contractor EDS is leading a consortium of suppliers, which
includes Fujitsu and Logica CMG.
MoD hid true cost of DII >>