IT Dispute

One practically inevitable fact of life is that when drafting contract terms for complex projects and services, the less clear your understanding is of the requirements of the project, the greater the chance of poor contractor performance behaviours. Two cases…

Twelve months ago, we published an article titled Post Office Horizon IT System; Legal fees of £3m and 2-years of legal action; 3 key lessons learned. It looked into the claims by subpostmasters that the Post Office’s £1bn Horizon IT…

You will have probably heard of Oracle. Founded over 40 years ago by Larry Ellison who remains its Executive Chairman and Chief Technology Officer (CTO), along with Bob Miner and Ed Oates. It employs 137,000 people and turns over c.$40bn.…

For almost a decade, the Post Office has been embroiled in a battle with subpostmasters over its core IT system, known as Horizon. It has resulted in the Post Office serving legal action, which has resulted in job losses, jail…

There are many reasons as to why one would want to renegotiate a contract with their strategic partner but the thought of the uphill challenge puts many off. In this blog, we offer up tips for a positive resolution with…

If matters have come to a head and no matter what you’ve tried, your IT vendor is simply unable to deliver its solutions to your expectations, then you may have to begin the process of project termination. This decision should…

Npower has faced many challenges over the last few years. At the centre of the most recent of these is the reportedly long-running billing issues the company and its customers have suffered from since IBM installed a new SAP billing…

The 1st December marked the end of almost a decade of partnership between Somerset County Council and IBM. This much discussed and questioned relationship which formed the collaborative entity Southwest One is now over, but the questions keep coming in…

In the face of growing perceived threats to security and defence the e-Borders project was conceived to “create a joined-up modernised intelligence-led border control and security framework” tracking passengers as they travelled to our shores by air, rail or sea,…

With the New Year comes new challenges for Cornwall Council as it starts to regroup after its dispute with BT, over their 10-year £300m outsourcing contract, came to a dramatic end before Christmas. But what led these two parties, so…

When it comes to hiring ‘legal’ it usually means things are starting to, or already have, gone awry. So when hiring an IT lawyer or technical expert, you need to be clear about your objectives and outcomes from the beginning.…

A date has been set for Cornwall Council to meet BT in the High Court. On 1 December 2015, both sides will have the opportunity to explain just why the ten-year £300m outsourcing contract that bound them together was ended…

Selecting and managing suitable suppliers often requires a much greater emphasis on communicating your business outcomes to them, along with much more subtlety and finesse in managing the emotional stakes, than many realise. The importance of strong supplier relationships from…

As outsourcing continues to gain popularity with both commercial-sector businesses and public-sector bodies, the importance of a strong and well resourced intelligent client function (ICF) team that has the skills and commercial awareness to drive maximum value from complex client/vendor…

When complex strategic relationships between public bodies and private sector vendor organisations start to veer off track it can often seem too daunting a task to refocus vendor performance on the original business outcomes expected and agreed. With productivity levels…

When entering into a new strategic relationship for outsourcing or a major technology solution project, the agreement at some point in its formation will be subjected to time pressures from internal or external sources. It could be that the client…

If you are to believe the statistics published on problematic big IT projects – whether a commercial sector Enterprise Software implementation (ERP), a Local Authority Client Relationship System (CRM) or an NHS Trust dealing with a problematic Electronic Patient Records…

The Post Office recently hit the headlines again after admitting that IT training and support failings may have resulted in some users of its Horizon system being wrongly accused of false accounting. After undergoing a forensic accounting investigation, it now…

Most organisations, whether in the public or private sector, are under extreme pressure to cut service costs – and quickly. But they also remain under pressure to keep service levels as high as they possibly can. And minimise complaints from…

Outsourcing has once again been in the public eye due to two recent high profile project failures. Last month, MI5 abandoned its reported £90m digital records management system over concerns that implementation of the system would lead to an “intelligence…

In 2007, Somerset County Council struck a deal to outsource various services to a joint venture company. That company — Southwest One (SW1) — was intended to serve as a trailblazer that demonstrated how public and private organisations could work…

It’s a common situation. An organisation is very disappointed with what they perceive to be a failing provider relationship, unsatisfactory service delivery from a strategic provider, and they want out of the contract. They appreciate that exiting a service provider,…

The news last Thursday that Northgate Managed Services has put itself up for sale comes as little surprise to those of us with extensive experience in the managed services sector. The company has been struggling to provide any significant return for its…

Mainstream media hasn’t been shy in publicising the shortcomings of outsourcing and commissioning providers in recent times. Whether it has been the G4S debacle, or the more recent news that outsourcing specialist Mouchel has been taken over by its bankers,…

Despite good intentions on both sides of the fence, a service provider partnership can falter and you may find yourself considering options for service recovery. There are many reasons as to why this can happen (such as contract clauses), but…

Although I only joined Best Practice Group recently, I have already been well-exposed to the grim reality of faltering and failing service provider relationships. As a Sales Director and Managing Director of IT vendors during my career, I used to…

The back office ICT system was bought a few years ago. It was hailed as a fantastic piece of procurement by the team that was chosen to select a vendor and a package, the benefits that your company were to realise…

A recent court case highlights that warranties for work performed in ICT or outsourcing contracts must be reasonable in terms of the time they apply. In the J Murphy & Sons Limited v Johnson Precast Limited case, Clause 14(i) was…

A judgment from a recent court case suggests you can now contractually rely on the advice from your service provider – even if the contract terms try to exclude it. Standard contracts provided by the vendor will often try to exclude…

A new court ruling will make them think again… DE BEERS v ATOS ORIGIN [2010] Have you ever had this happen to you? A vendor commences a major project – perhaps for a large software initiative, service commissioning or outsourcing. Part…

Yet again, just last week the Government confirmed the scrapping of another major IT project; £12bn of taxpayers’ money down the drain. But is it a relief for the NHS which needs to save some £20bn? Organisations need manageable change,…

A £41m Oracle enterprise resource planning project, run by Deloitte and undertaken by Pennsylvania’s Liquor Control Board (PLCB’s) has been marred by inflated costs, staffing woes and operational problems, according to a damning report by the state’s auditor general. While PLCB’s…

The report Government and IT- “A Recipe For Rip-Offs”: Time For A New Approach published by the Public Administration Committee states that a complete overhaul of the entire system of procurement is needed to eliminate the ‘cartel’ of big IT firms and…

Severn Trent Water (STW) is blaming a possible hosepipe ban on their new £70million computer system. It is claimed that challenges caused by their new SAP system are delaying the fixing of leaks, meaning targets are not being met and staff morale…

We have been involved in several BSF projects over recent times. Unfortunately, most of them from the point of helping to recover these projects, rather than being involved during the procurement cycle to help avoid problems in the first place. Whilst the…

A report has been published by the Institute of Government stating that Government ICT is an “outdated model”. The problem with comments like this, is that the Government has a view that the majority of Private Sector ICT projects (in…