...but according to the MOD, everything is fine and dandy!
DEFENCE NEWS: 15 JANUARY 2009
Several national newspapers have reported that the Ministry of Defence has spent almost £1 billion attempting to upgrade the computer system used across the Defence Information Infrastructure (DII). The House of Commons' Public Accounts Committee (PAC) claims that the MOD conducted 'inadequate research' prior to installing the system and that a 'major miscalculation' has led to months of delays. The DII programme is on track to enable benefits of £1.5 billion over 10 years and has already delivered improvements to the operation of existing MOD systems, two early new capabilities to forces in Afghanistan and 'Single Point Of Contact' help desk facilities, providing an improved service to MOD users. MOD Permanent Secretary, Sir Bill Jeffrey, said: "The DII programme is one of the largest in Government. It has taken longer to deliver then we had intended, but it is being rolled out across the Department and is already delivering benefits. We are confident that remaining problems will be overcome, with the help of our commercial partners in the Atlas consortium. We have already overcome some complex challenges, and have learned the lessons of the early stages of the project. As the PAC report notes, the commercial structure of the programme is robust, and costs have been kept within 3% of the original budget."