Revenue contract 'reaches £8.5bn'

[Troll]

The cost of a 10-year contract to run computers for HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has more than doubled to £8.5bn, according to a committee of MPs.
Profits set to be made by Capgemini, the IT firm which won the contract in 2004, have almost quadrupled, the public accounts select committee said.

It said targets set by the department were not challenging enough.

Nice work for Cap...anyone here got their noses in this particular trough?

[rootsnall]

I was at the Post Office when they came in there, I shudder to think how much they'll have taken the PO ( and hence us the taxpayer ) for a few years into that contract.

[DaveB]

Worked with CG in my previous life as a Permie. This sounds just like them. Initial contract is agreed for a set amount but *anything* that falls outside the initial contract gets charged at a premium. Right down to charging £200 + travel for a network monkey to come out and install a patch cable. Of course they are more than happy to "advise" on the contract wording etc. up front and have absolutely no qualms about exploiting a poorly written contract.

The guys who actually do the work a good, they know their stuff, they work hard and hate the way the company operates. Most of them would leave on the spot if they got an offer elsewhwere.

It's the business and contracts guys who are the sharks.

[Ardesco]

I have to say I have little sympathy. The contract should have been worded correctly in the first place. I would be charging extra for change controls and deviations from the original spec as well.

The problem is the wooly spec that the goverment pnied up in the first place, I bet they were rubbing thier hands in glee when they got a copy of it...

[hyperD]

Initial contract is agreed for a set amount but *anything* that falls outside the initial contract gets charged at a premium.

Sounds exactly like another decorator we just fired.

Useless, fecking lazy, poor working attitude cnuts the fecking lot of them.

[chicane]

Sounds exactly like another decorator we just fired.

Useless, fecking lazy, poor working attitude cnuts the fecking lot of them.

You mean you've actually managed to get a tradesman of any kind to turn up for a job in the first place? Congratulations - you're at least one step ahead of me.

[hyperD]

I sympathise....we've been doing this for over a year now (whole house reburb). The decorators are the last of a long list of disasters. You are right, most of them either don't bother turning up and most don't even contact us back with a quote.

I even had one guy drop us a letter/quote (always on a fecking cheap hand scrawled notepad FFS!) saying:

"...it would be wrong of me to take this job as I would have to organise a plumber and a plasterer and they are so unreliable nowadays..."

Classic...

I think I might write this saga up sometime here late one night when I'm p1ssed...

[chicane]

What gets me in particular is the way every tradesman always seems so fired up and enthusiastic when you first meet them.

And then:

1) They don't turn up on the agreed date.
2) You call them to ask why they didn't turn up on the agreed date, the phone always goes to voicemail.
3) Repeat step 2 several times.
4) Eventually they call back, full of remorse and apology. You agree a date for them to come around and start the work.
5) Return to step 1, until apathy sets in.