U.K. government hit with another large computer failure

[R.A. Hettinga]

<http://www.computerworld.com/printthis/2004/0,4814,97853,00.html>

 U.K. government hit with another large computer failure
 The computer crash is being called the biggest in U.K. government history


 News Story by Laura Rohde

 
   NOVEMBER 26, 2004  (IDG NEWS SERVICE)  -  IT system failures continued
to plague the U.K. government this week, when as many as 80,000 civil
servants working for the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) had to deal
with what is being described in the local press as the biggest computer
crash in government history.

 The DWP was carrying out a "routine software upgrade" on Monday when the
system crashed, leaving around 80% of the department's 100,000 desk
machines disrupted or completely shut down, a DWP spokeswoman said today.
The problems lasted through most of yesterday, but the "majority of our
system is up and running now," she said.

 Microsoft Corp. and Electronic Data Systems Corp. (EDS) run the DWP's
network as part of a $3.8 billion information technology contract.

 Microsoft issued a short statement today saying that it worked closely
with its partners to help rectify the situation and support the DWP, but
declined any further comment. Representatives from EDS could not
immediately be reached for comment.

 The head of the DWP, government secretary Alan Johnson, has promised an
internal inquiry into the systems failure and the role Microsoft and EDS,
of Plano, Texas, played in the crisis.

 The DWP, which is responsible for providing a variety of state benefits to
about 24 million people, attempted to downplay the effect the computer
problems will have on its customers, saying that the department's mainframe
computers were not affected. "There will be delays with new and amended
benefit claims, but we have been dealing with the problems though our
contingency plans and the disruptions will be minimal," the DWP spokeswoman
said.

 It is believed that the crash was caused when an incompatible system was
downloaded on to the entire network, forcing employees to send faxes
because they couldn't access their e-mail accounts and to fill out some
payment checks by hand.

 The IT failure was only the latest in a string of serious computer system
problems experienced by the department. The DWP's Child Support Agency
(CSA) has been struggling with a $863 million system from EDS that has made
payments to only one in eight single parents awaiting them. Last week,
Johnson told a House of Commons Parliamentary Select Committee that he is
considering shutting down the child-support case management and telephony
system, and Doug Smith, the head of the CSA, resigned from his job.

 Today the general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union,
Mark Serwotka, called on the government to hold off on its plans to cut
30,000 jobs in the DWP on the basis of IT improvements, in light of the
computer crisis. Earlier this year, the government announced plans to
eliminate 104,000 civil servant jobs across the government based in part on
increased efficiencies gained though new IT systems.

 Since 2001, the DWP has spent around $8.04 billion on various IT projects,
including the CSA system. According to a report it submitted to a
Parliament Select Committee, the department has spent $579 million on
management and IT consultancy, $97.4 million on staff substitutions and
contractors and $102.7 million on professional services.

 The U.K.'s public sector IT projects in 2003 and 2004 are expected to cost
more than $23.4 billion, but U.K. government IT projects have often been
accused of being over-ambitious and prone to disastrous delays and cost
overruns.

 Beyond the DWP, further examples include the benefit-payment card program
from the Post Office, the Department of Social Security and International
Computers Ltd. (ICL), which fell apart after three years and $567 million;
software problems that delayed the Swanwick air traffic control center and
have since been blamed for a near collision between two airplanes; the
disruption wrought on thousands of people with travel plans in 1999 by the
Passport Office's new computer system, and the National Probation Service's
case-record and management system which was abandoned in 2001 after it was
revealed the project was expected to be two years late and 70% over budget.


-- 
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R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
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