Even PC World doesn't rip you off that much!!

I very much doubt the MoD will come even close to renaming it to something as sensible as that..

seeing as the units are dell - so cheap, and the staff are under paid, i wonder exactly where all this money is going....

EDS, Fujitsu, EADS, General Dynamics, LogicaCMG - well that lot fill me with belief about the future and value-for-money of this project, not.

I used to work for Atlas a couple of years ago when DII(F) was in its first phase, and I would agree that some were underpaid, such as myself, but some staff were on phenomenal salaries, although I was simply working on holding security workshops. Their expenses are significant, but no matter all the factors I can remember, I can't get to a figure close to 82k per UAD. The networking infrastructure and satellite comms should be in place and working by now, then again, after spending years at EDS, I've experienced more than my fair share of roll-out delays.

Its not really that surprising is it?

£82k for a PC, £50k for a toilet... its just as well we're not all conspiracy theorists... ;)

Wheres the conspiracy angle?

I assume the MoD gets a free Black Helicopter with evry 10 machines purchased

Just in the middle of our own Mr Lewis's book, and a very good read it is too.

After 8 years in the Army and having been on the receiving end of much of EDS/Fujitsu et al's "products" I can only agree with the theory that the govt is basically trying to keep British companies and/or golf buddies afloat/rich.

If the average taxpayer knew what kind of money is wasted on defence they would be very, very cross indeed. You could pay for all the new hospitals/schools/immigrant defences any self respecting Daily HateMail reader could possibly want with so much to spare you could actually equip our forces (yes, all of them) with every imaginable rifle/fighter/submarine etc you could ever need.

Just buy American/German or swiss, ok?

no matter how many times they reorganise MOD PE (or whatever it is now) they still manage to fail alarmingly

I have lost count of how many times I have seen the MOD sleepwalking into purchase disasters - I am just glad I am no longer have to watch allow petty bureaucrats take projects to disaster - and the pay is much better outside as well

Graham, you must be joking!

The only places that waste cash more than defence are health and education. Defence spending is a far better state than the bad old days of the 80s/90s.

Graham Human, EDS and Fujitsu are not British, and believe me they are kicking at the heels to "offshore". I was the guy that worked for Atlas, my first job at EDS was "off shored" to Hungary. If it wasn't for the UK Govt insisting that the likes of Rolls Royce, Defence, BP and the prison service accounts remained in the UK these companies would have moved these key British companies sensitive details to developing countries with no regard for our national security. While I couldn't possibly know how they can justify the costs displayed here, I think we should be willing to pay a little more to keep this stuff in the UK (and I think my ex colleagues would agree!).

Anonymous - Agree with you there, as far as I can tell, just about any project, IT related or not is almost always fcuked up from start (if they actually do) to end... the point I was making was that defence spending is very poor, not that any other govt projects are any better! :)

Ben - I should have clarified my point. I know EDS/Fujitsu are not British, what I meant to say was I have been at the sharp end of the equipment and systems they send out for the end customers to use and everytime they have, it has been a total joke. Everything is enormously overpriced and under spec'ed. If you are lucky, you might get a something that is 10 years out of date for 10 times the price you could put it together yourself for. Spares are even worse...

This is not to say that only the americans are ripping us off, we can do that very well ourselves..

i still work for atlas and its a joke, there are contractors on 300 a day while permanent staff - in positions of high responsibility get a lowly 16 1/2K basic - welcome to the real world though folks, the machines do cost alot - 5-600 a machine, then support etc on top for however long - it all adds up - plus the huge bill to Microsoft for their "secure" xp build, then you have the telephony system to support the user (Single Point Of Contact) - and the Huge Amount the Software distribution costs (Via HP - and no, it doesnt work - and yes as contractors they are on a bucket of money a day - new BMW's all round in that department) all im saying is dont blame Fujitsu/EDS - look at BT, and HP, and Microsoft and the ridiculous amounts they are charging - and to the person above who worked in the armed forces apparently on "F" Terminals - thats odd as F terminals arnt in the Theater of War yet as we know they arnt ready - you may have used "c" terminals and those where Fujitsu ONLY - nothing to do with Atlas