HMRC discovers corporates are far harder to get money out of then citizens.

'based on the condition that EDS won further business with Whitehall.

EDS has been less successful in winning new contracts than HMRC expected'

EDS: Here, use us, we built a pile of shite for this other group so we'd be perfect for you

HMRC: They screwed us up, I'm sure another govt team would be more than happy to go through the same hell just so we can get some cash back

Paris, cause is it just me or they the most stupid of agencies?

EDS seem to be a total pile of shite.. Didn't Derby County FC drop them as their sponsor a while back?

I want my pay rise out of EDS first!

Joke icon because expecting a pay rise out of EDS is a joke.

My thoughts exactly! Still, the excuse will come in handy the next time I'm behind with my payments. Sorry chaps, but I've been less successful.. etc.

Still, I'm sure they'll come round when they're threatened with £100 fine...

"Controversially, the payment of compensation was also based on the condition that EDS won further business with Whitehall."

Is that a most unpleasant Virtual Blackmail? Bully boy big stick tactics without any carrots/Mother Hubbard's Cupboard territory

It's effectively a win-win situation:

a) they win more contracts, thus pay out the cash from other govt departments whomt they'll screw over for every penny before providing a shite result, thus ensuring profits

b) they won't get another contract, in which case they pay nothing.

sounds like the same lee-way that underground consortium got before going bankrupt, instead of fixing the problem the govt gives them some contract that protects them from paying back anything, so they're guarenteed to provide the shittest service at the highest cost. bloody idiots need to get real, really riles me that they're so incompetent AND bloody useless yet use our tax so don't give a shit. When will the govt be held accountable? In a corporation jobs would have been lost, that'll teach em.

They'll sue for wrongful dismissal I hear you cry? how is wasting £millions not a reason? They ain't worth the office space they occupy. More paris hiltons :x

There are a number of government CTOs, CIOs, EIEIOs and such who still think that only EDS, Accenture, Fuji and IBM are capable of delivering large government IT solutions. Mind you, they all come from industry, and have never had to suffer public sector IT, which is a hell of a lot more complex than industry.

PS. HMRC has always had trouble with getting money out of large companies and the very rich because they have so many ways of hiding it. Listening to my HMIT friends bitch about how some household names behave is a real eye opener.

...maybe EDS sent the cheque but it lying lost somewhere, next to a couple of CDs

2nd coathook from the left, thanks...and pass me my brolly while you're at it.

It really is about time HM Government stopped behaving like a two-bob tart giving BJs to so-called technology firms on the empty promise of a quick thrill. They never learn, they waste our cash in the process and it's about time this idiocy stopped once and for all.

Screw EDS, pull the relevant staff back into direct employ and let the overpaid and underbrained management go hang. It's about this disgraceful diversion of public funds to organisations such as EDS, who consistently fail to deliver on set objectives was stopped once and for all. It's sickening that such huge sums are thrown away when it could be better utilised.

Minutes of the Select Committee on Government IT Projects :

Chairman : "Could the Minister from the Department of the Bleedin' Obvious give his opinion on how we can reduce the appalling costs and failure rate of our IT projects."

MotBO : "Well, from the point of view of my department, it seems that since a small number of suppliers, in particular EDS, appear to be involved in all the failures, and have a consistently poor track record on completion and functionality delivered, it would probably be sensible if we, you know, considered that perhaps they aren't up to the job. Probably we should refine our tender process and very seriously consider looking at other suppliers."

Chairman : "I'm sorry, I don't understand."

MotBO : <sighs> "Let me simplify that for you, our tendering process sucks. EDS are not corporately competent to bid for these systems properly, never mind deliver them. Hows that ?"

Chairman : "Still not quite on board with you there, sorry."

MotBO : <grits teeth, clenches fists> "Listen, you fat useless idiot..."

Chairman : <calls the honourable gentleman to order, a brief scuffle ensues> "Well, I don't see that we're making much progress here today, I call this meeting to a close. Who's for a great big expensed lunch ?"

heh, good old contextual ads :)

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y78/danwilkie/eds.jpg

The dead vulture, because he can't take HMRC's stupidity anymore...

How is it that the government can't run their own IT consultancy? I mean, it's not as if there isn't enough requirement in the public sector to keep at least couple of major consultancies running. If it's done as a government agency you get all the benefits of internal IT departments, without the profiteering and badly treated staff of external companies like EDS, but you also get benefits of scale that you would with an external company. Once a project has been designed, the government consultancy work with the department who have commissioned it, to install and handover. If the department is too small to have their own IT people, have a government agency who runs the IT for all the small departments, like outsourcing, but with Public sector.

EDS have nothing to do with the tax credit stuff anymore, they lost the whole IT contract to the HMRC 3 years ago

EDS is very much a dead bird, it might be why there shedding a whole shit load of jobs

Not forgetting the performance bonuses that are written into their contracts, which basically mean they'll get another shoebox full of cash whether the system goes belly up or not. These are necessary to "attract the right kind of people" i.e. those that have no integrity or ability just want the cold hard cash. Paris Hilton is therefore obvious.

The '5% discount of your next order' offer is very first offer made in response to complaints. It usually shakes off the complete idiots, but not the partial ones or those with any modicum of commercial nouse or awareness of contractual law.

Ah I see now.

Yes, the HMRC tax credit system they delivered isn't great, but the real problem is the data input clerks who enter it into that system.

I was one of them for long enough.

Maybe if Fujitsu/Capgemini/ASPIRE would have paid us all more than absolute minimum wage, and weren't sacking people(mostly old people and teenagers, the only ones who'd work for such a pittance) randomly (the "replaceable cog" mentality) we would have given a shit about the data.

"EDS have nothing to do with the tax credit stuff anymore"

That probably explains why ours came through in under a week!

Just before Christmas I had a lovely letter from HMRC threatening to levy full and final settlement with distraint if they hadn't heard from me in seven days (five of which were public holidays). At the bottom of said letter, it reminded me that interest was running.

Sheesh.

Hear, hear ... "hear, all ye good people, hear what this brilliant and eloquent speaker has to say!" ...... http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mhear.html

One does wonder at times what percentage of the Westminster Village would test Positive for Drugs Use and/or Abuse? I wonder if it would be Representative of National figures or be markedly different?

And the flame because it cold in the Cold without a Line Inside.

I wasn't aware that paying fines was something that could be done by installments as and when I feel like it and if I find any spare 5 pence pieces down the back of the sofa.

Thank-you EDS - you found a solution!

Maybe if EDS got rid of the losers that it has in management position (people management and account management) then maybe there would be a chance of delivering something that actually works and is what the customer wants.

I was told by a customer to expect a specific piece of work to hit our desks "soon" EIGHT bloody months later we got it, after 4 levels of EDS "management" on the account, and 2 levels or our management had reviewed the request (justified their existence), and the so called "technical architects" (to be fair I do know two of them that are good) had stuck their 2pence worth in. I wonder what the customer would have been able to afford (or save) without the loser managers in the way. With this round of redundancies, the manager vs doer ratio slips again, but what the heck, we've got Best Shoring to handle the overflow.

Best Shoring ! Now there's a great idea, so, it takes them twice as long and to deliver something that works, doesn't matter does it ? Of course not, it's CHEAPER and that's all the customer cares about isn't it ? Deadlines don't matter, and it will be right after it's sent back three time won't it ?

Talk about frustrating ! There's so many people that are actually capable of delivering decent work if the idiots would let them do it.

I can't understand why the government would want to give contracts to EDS, it's not as if the track record is very good ! I wonder if anyone would use them if they took a tour of internal systems. SharePoint anyone ?

"How is it that the government can't run their own IT consultancy?"

Some possibilities:

1. Because the mantra "run government in a businesslike way" has been misunderstood as "run government like a business". Big diff.

2. Because IT workers are clearly intellectually elitist economic parasites and we don't want those on the public payroll.

3. Because, following rewording of the relevant mantra, a touching faith has arisen that the public sector is incapable of doing anything right, whereas the private sector can walk on water.

4. Because politicians, esp. the Bolshevists of The Party of The People, are addicted to micromanagement.

5. Because public sector managers are far too often appointed/promoted for reasons of their political leanings or sheer PCness.

6. Because politicians are suckers who believe salesmen's promises.

7. Because you can train monkeys to write software, so why pay more than a few bananas a day?

Take your pick, one or all or any combination (linear or nonlinear) thereof.

Icon because most of these reasons have very little to do with IT.

Hey EDS, better watch out!

HMRC load interest at 8½% for late payments! LOL!

I love EDS !! Boiled, roasted or basted in its own juices !!