MoJ Scraps IT Assets Worth £56m

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has written off its £56m Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system after numerous issues.

The project, meant to deliver HR, payroll, transactional, finance and procurement services, was found to be late and over budget, defeating its stated aim of saving money.

In 2011, IT business services firm Steria was awarded a contract to develop an ERP platform for ERP, along with Accenture and Savvis.

However, following claims that the Cabinet Office has been developing a duplicate system, the Ministry has claimed it will be writing off a large portion of the project.

“The programme has endured significant time and cost pressures to complete the original solution under the initial framework design and a combination of complex contractual arrangements and weaknesses in programme governance has resulted in poorer value for money,” claimed the Department’s 2013/2014 accounts.

Steria Still Part On New “Outsourced Solution”

Despite the fact that Steria failed to deliver the ERP system successfully first time round, the MoJ has now revealed it will be using the supplier for a new “outsourced solution.”

“A decision was taken at the MoJ Departmental board meeting on 16^th June 2014 to enter negotiations on with Shared Services Connected Limited (SSCL), the Cabinet Offce/Steria joint venture, with a view to outsourcing MoJ shared services in the autumn of 2014,” it reveals.

The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) has criticised the move, claiming that suppliers are being rewarded for failure and the move may lead to job losses.

Last week it was revealed that MoJ staff may be taking strike action as protest again the government handing technology work over to the private sector.

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