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purplecthulhu at 04:46pm on 08/02/2007
purplecthulhu at 04:46pm on 08/02/2007Interesting exchange between the Tories and industry over the last few days.
Tories to IT Industry: our manifesto commitment is to ditch ID cards, so there'll have to be get out clauses in the government contracts in case we win.
IT Industry to Tories: we don't care about no stinking democracy! If you upset our nice little earner we'll get all huffy and won't accept any lucrative contracts from any nasty Tory government.
Of course I paraphrase, but when the situation is such that even David Davis can come up with a decent quote like, "Your claim to be neither for or against the policy of introducing ID cards in the UK, given the clear commercial interest of a number of your members, is simply disingenuous", then one has to be amused.
The vision of IT companies stomping away from the government teat in a fit of pique about their lost ID Card millions, thus allowing their competitors in, is also mildly ludicrous.
Tories to IT Industry: our manifesto commitment is to ditch ID cards, so there'll have to be get out clauses in the government contracts in case we win.
IT Industry to Tories: we don't care about no stinking democracy! If you upset our nice little earner we'll get all huffy and won't accept any lucrative contracts from any nasty Tory government.
Of course I paraphrase, but when the situation is such that even David Davis can come up with a decent quote like, "Your claim to be neither for or against the policy of introducing ID cards in the UK, given the clear commercial interest of a number of your members, is simply disingenuous", then one has to be amused.
The vision of IT companies stomping away from the government teat in a fit of pique about their lost ID Card millions, thus allowing their competitors in, is also mildly ludicrous.
amused
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It also explains why companies that weren't interested at the point of original sale suddenly became willing to stump up lots of cash a year or two later. So it accounts for the "selling off cheap" problem that Labour was annoyed about.
As to the running of the trains: no influence there.
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Any company that has placed bids for the ID card project has allowed greed to trample common sense: they know that it's unworkable.
I guess the Crapitas and EDS's of this world are immune to reputational damage, having amply demonstrated an unlimited appetite for public funds in the delivery of failed projects. But it's a step too far to ignore the commercial risks, or to protest against exposure to potential losses, when you knowingly enter into a project that is immoral, unpopular, unneccsary and uneconomical, technically-impossible and commissioned by proven incompetents.
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1) they can't deliver on time
2) they can't deliver to budget
3) they can't deliver to specification
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The only people attempting to give an honest picture seem to be the LSE academics who've been put through the ringer because they've had the temerity to question government numbers. Utterly disgusting.