16/12/2007

EDS coporate incompetance

EDS is one the Metrix consortium although it has a record of massive incompetence who can't manage to pay the armed services at present or run a computer system that works or run the child support agency! It is given yet another contract!New Labour government jargon for privatising because its 'what works' should be 'What never works' ...Keep EDS out of Military training, St Athan & Wales


The Metrix consortium, consisting of Land Securities Trillium and QinetiQ, with Raytheon, EDS, amongst others, offered the best technical and most cost effective solutions and represents the best overall outcome for Defence. Metrix won each package independently and separately. http://www.edsdefence.com/news/9

What a smart idea it was of the MoD to order their new computerised payroll system from EDS, the company already responsible for such winners as the Child Support Agency and the Inland Revenue's Tax Credits systems.
It should not come as a surprise then that the new £250million (yes, that's right £250million) pay system has been underpaying the UK's frontline troops for up to 5 months forcing many servicemen to seek financial support from regiment hardship funds to make up the shortfall.
There must be hundreds of payroll systems available on the market that the MoD could have bought at a fraction of the cost. But no, the MoD wanted its own bespoke system; after all, it had paid consultants who, surprisingly, had told them so.
It didn't want to spend money on providing decent equipment for the guys in the front line; it didn't want to improve the troops' living conditions. Oh no, it preferred to spend £250million on a new computer system that would mean that the civil servants operating it would have to press less buttons and so be less vulnerable to RSI injury!
Well done MoD: £250million for a system that short changes the guys who are risking their lives on the front line!
The Sunday Times: Soldiers are cheated in pay blunder

MoD says 10-year IT programme back on track15 Nov 2007
Early obstacles overcome in EDS led Atlas project claims military. The Ministry of Defence has admitted its multi-billion pound Defence Information Infrastructure project has faced a “number of obstacles during the early stages of ...
Computerworld UK's News - http://www.computerworlduk.com/news

Electronic Data Systems - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Electronic Data Systems (EDS) (NYSE: EDS, LSE: EDC) is a global business and technology services company headquartered in Plano, Texas that defined the ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_Data_Systems - 67k -Cached - Similar pages
EDS drew criticism from the UK National Audit Office for their work on controversial IT systems for the Child Support Agency.[9] The implementation of a cross-service payroll system for the UK MoD has been problematic.[10]

The performance of the system to administer Tax Credits for the UK Inland Revenue (now HM Revenue & Customs) was far lower than expected, resulting in payments failing to arrive for the thousands of low-paid workers and their families who needed these benefits.[11] This failure ultimately resulted in EDS being dropped by HM Revenue and Customs in favour of CapGemini and EDS settling with HM Revenue and Customs for £71 million. EDS argued that they should have been given much more time to test the new system. [12]

  • ^ Private Eye 17 November 2007
  • ^ EDS's RAF pay system struggles to take off, The Register
  • ^ [1], The Register
  • ^ [2], BBC News
  • Tax credit fiasco costs EDS £71m
    Computer keyboard
    The Treasury has spent £24m fixing tax credit computer problems
    Computer services group EDS has agreed to pay the government £71.25m in compensation for the poor performance of its tax credits IT system.

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