Outsourcing vendor CSC has been issued with over $2 million in service credit penalties for non performance, a further indication that the Coalition’s IT Outsourcing Program has failed to deliver either client benefits or cost savings, Senator Kate Lundy said today.
CSC (Computer Sciences Corp, a US multinational) is the vendor for Cluster 3, on a five-year contract worth over $150 million. Cluster 3 includes the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (DIMA), the Department of Finance and Administration, Australian Electoral Commission, IP Australia, Australian Government Analytical Laboratories, Australian Surveying and Land Information Group and the Ionosphere Prediction Service.
Questioned by Senator Lundy at Senate estimates hearings in June 1999, DIMA admitted then that their IT has cost more since the Cluster 3 contract came into force. It was also revealed that CSC had failed to fulfil approximately 10 per cent of their service level agreements with DIMA.
“The Coalition’s IT Outsourcing Program has failed in almost every respect,” Senator Lundy said.
“Projected savings not being realised and now the quality of the outsourcing program and the ability of vendors to meet client needs is being questioned.”
CSC apparently told DIMA staff that ‘you will have to be patient and wait your turn for better equipment’. CSC evidently took six months to fill orders for laptop and desktop computers. Additionally, DIMA staff faced a server failure that resulted in a 12-hour shutdown during DIMA’s busy lead up to the Olympic Games.
Writing in today’s Canberra Times, Wendy Levy reports that DIMA staff wrote to that newspaper raising numerous concerns about delays and server failures but no action was forthcoming.
Contact: Simon Tatz on 02-6277 3334 or 0418 488 295
