Originally Posted by
Nil_Drift
I would have tolerated the contractorization of almost everything if it was genuinely value for money and a maintenance of, or improvement in, the current provision but I cannot give any examples, though I'm sure other contributors might have shining examples, of what was improved by contracting when the costs are taken into account.
One of the biggest fiascos was HRG Travel now operated by AmEx. That shows how much money must be involved to attract such a company. The number of times that I used "Print Screen" to show the JSAU that flights, hotels, trains and hire cars were so much cheaper on usual booking sites than using the enforced booking tool. I took it up with the top Civil Servant at Main Building when he held a public forum. His response was that he took Whizz flights at 0500 to do his bit and everyone laughed until his neck went red. The reason behind this expensive nonsense was a fundamental lack of trust in the integrity of self-bookers. If we were trusted to write Op Orders to send millions of pounds worth of kit to far-flung places, surely we could be trusted to book a budget flight from LGW to Europe for the conference that empowered the Op Order?
A further complete agreement. That arrangement is absolutely shocking.