Government to privatise everything

[wjfox]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12520491

[Marmora Man]

Simplistic headline - "Government to purchase more services from the private sector" would be nearer the truth.

[Brendan]

?Government to give state contracts to their personal business connections? would be even nearer the truth.

[Marmora Man]

Brendan,

Have you ever tried to bid for a gov't contract - I'm in the middle of doing so. The documents to be completed run to several hundred pages with 21 Annexes to be completed. If anyone can swing an "old boys" deal through that bureaucracy they're bloody clever.

[Loz]

Been there, done that MM. There is one simple rule to getting government contracts - be the cheapest. The treasury rule the roost.

[Brendan]

Marmora Man,

Yep I know very well how laborious the application and bidding process in public procurement is. (especially considering all the EU fuckery that has to be taken into account) But it didn?t stop the last government from having a go at strategic positioning and it won?t stop this one. The government may be bound by the procurement rules but a lot of the time they do set the agenda when it comes to what is being procured.

[mockney piers]

"There is one simple rule to getting government contracts - be the cheapest"

Is taht how EDS keep getting awarded contracts time and time again dispite fucking everything up, over and over again?

You'd have thought somebody would ahve spotted the pattern by now. Sometimes you have to spend a bit more to spend a bit less.

And clearly you don't read enough Private Eye MM, the likes of KPMG, earning billions off the government are packed with ex-ministers with current ministers ears.

Personally I'd happily have a decent civil service rather than spend ?570-?1500 a day on a surprisingly high level of fuckwittery from these companies. Especially when so much of that money is spent on all that nasty PPP PFI entanglement.

Oh yeah, the private sector is the answer to everything ;-P

[Loz]

Yep - they fall for it time and again. Standard EDS practice is to come in very low and then either renegotiate pretty much straight away or dump most of the contract into change control. Ker-ching.

Oh yeah, the private sector is the answer to everything

[Dons flame-proof suit] Actually, in a lot of cases - especially IT - it is. Most PS contracts, in my experience, that go off the rails are due to the some pretty ridiculous meddling and some horrendously badly thought-out requirements that don't in any way match what is actually needed, despite any advice to the contrary. Of course, there are complete cock-ups on the contractors side, but they usually end up in court. But there's a good reason why most of the IT disasters don't end up in court and it generally comes down to what is asked for (and contracted for) and what they actually want not being the same thing.

Also, there are a great many successful projects, but they never quite make it to Private Eye for some reason.

[Brendan]

In some ways an old fashioned old boys bung would be preferable because at least you know who got it and why and it makes both the bunger and bungee clearly responsible if there is a cock up.

Not that I?m advocating that sort of behaviour mind but as anyone in the working world knows you open yourself up to a lot of personal liability if you vouch for someone. In some ways the trundling bureaucracy of the public procurement process can be used as a shield from that.

[Loz]

As for PFI, well I would struggle to think of a more wasteful, inefficient way of financing anything. But that is hardly the private sector's fault.

[mockney piers]

"there are a great many successful projects"

Indeed, I worked for two successful projects, both kept under 2 million quid, in a *gasps* quango*, doing good work for youth justice systems.

On the other side in PS (not that I wasn't a PS employee, but I was earning the queen's coin, you get my drift) I've worked for some shocking projects, particularly in banking, often throwing several million euros to no end, then rinse and repeat the exercise.

Our YJB (now MOJ) projects were mostly teams of individual contractors, expensive but skilled, in conjuction with decent civil servants. No expensive analysts from PWC, McKinsey, KPMG et al.

The higher profile sister project however went down the route of blue chip consultancy firm (not EDS this time but might as well have been) who just chucked as much resource (paid surprisingly badly despite their cost; some were good but most proved the peanuts-monkeys adage) at it as possible, to squeeze the gravy out of the train until the cost/delivery ratio tumbled and the whole project was canned leaving youth justice and the tax payer considerably poorer and said consultancy laughing all the way to the bank.

I'm not saying private sector can't do it, it just isn't a panacea by any stretch.

*said quango no longer exists in name, but in practice the same people are there doing the same thing at the same cost, but this time direct to the MOJ. So not sure what all the fuss was about in that infamous quango axe swinging.