Australia has no hope of developing and implementing any sophisticated IT based ATC system, not a shred, not a chance, but they will spend at least Two billion trying and make some people very very rich in the process.
How do I know this? Because I spent Two years as "group general manager - systems integration" for an IT company delivering systems to the public sector until the predators nailed me.
The core of the problem is Twofold:
1. The public service tender process.
2. Lethally effective multi level marketing, originally pioneered by IBM Fifty years ago.
The public sector procurement system requires that there be:
a) A request for tender - a statement of the exact operational requirements the system must fulfill.
b) A contractors response to tender - followed by an evaluation process about how (b) meets (a) and the cost.
Problem 1: Determining the operational requirements is a continuously moving target thanks to new technology, changes to demographics and operating procedures, let alone organisational changes and shifting responsibilities.
Given that four years has elapsed while AsA and the Defence try and nail down the requirements, and given that it will take at least Five years to deiver the system, then by definition, all that will be delivered is what you think you needed Ten years ago. Do you think technology. politics, organisations, rules and procedures will be the same? Of course not!
Since we are firing at a moving target, there will have to be "variations" to the contract and they become very, very, very expensive as time goes on because this is where the contractor makes his money, through multi level marketing.
Problem 2: The principle of multi level marketing is to play on Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt from the top to the bottom of Government. It is devastatingly effective, I've had it done to me.
Step (a) - At each level of the Government and public service, from the Minister down, the contractor designates a relationship manager right down to sub project team leader level.
The relationship managers are all intelligent, beautifully dressed, often attractive if sex might be a factor and they all have gold credit cards. They are tasked with discovering the target persons innermost thoughts about life, their job, the project, their coworers and of course their boss. To do this they use wine, women, song, flattery, bribery, the best restaurants and of course corporate boxes at football, tennis, the races, Opera, golf, you name it.
Of course, what the targets don't know is that the relationship managers objective is to develop a complete picture of the strengths and weaknesses of every decision maker in the target Department. They pool their information. If you gossip that your boss is boffing his secretary, for example or that person A hates person B, they will store that information for future use.
Step (b) Is where the rubber meets the road. When the first requests for a changes (variation) appear, you will receive simply monstrous quotes for them from the contractor. So what happens next? Do you scream and yell? Do you cancel the project? Do you argue? No, you meekly accept the quotes and pay the money. Your relationship manager will force you to.
There is nothing more chilling for a manager to be told casually by his relationship manager: "Your boss was our guest at the tennis last night and I told him how well we were getting along.". Do you not understand that your idle gossip about person A hating person B and your boss boffing his secretary can be used to destroy A, B, your boss, his secretary and of course you?
Do you not understand that the Minister knows that if he tries to cancel the project, the contractor will leak to the press and opposition about the amount of money wasted in a microsecond?
There is no defence against this marketing technique, at least in Government.
There is only one sensible way of dealing with this matter. Select a system from somewhere that most closely resembles what you think you want. Buy it and install it without fiddling with it or trying to modify it because that will deliver you straight into the jaws of the contractor.
The second step is to change your procedures, regulations and if necessary laws to match the capability that your system can deliver.