Five consultancies with severe branding difficulties win spots on UK government's £580m 'transformation' services framework

The UK government has awarded £580m of a £2bn framework contract to five suppliers, partly in the hope they can assist in telling public sector buyers how and where taxpayers' cash should be spent on tech services. The list of customers wants includes tech service discovery, tech service disaggregation, along with transition …

[Pete 2]

How to suck an egg

> creating "business models" which include "identification of the correct commercial and operational models to deliver the technology strategy

Which sounds a lot like paying companies to learn how to be better (or even just barely competent) at providing solutions that the government would want.

The problem being that in the past, HMG has awarded contracts to companies that have demonstrated NO competence (such a awarding a ferry contract to a company with no ships).

On that basis, should not a significant amount of the money up for grabs be awarded to government departments. So that they can "identify the correct commercial and operational models" to know which companies might (just) be able to fulfill the contracts they are awarded?

But that would require the self-awareness to recognise their own incompetence. A Catch-22.

[Pascal Monett]

"outsourcing the decision of whether to outsource"

Government administration at its finest.

Sir Humphry would be proud.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: "outsourcing the decision of whether to outsource"

I know, I know, I know.

"Yes you should outsource."

I'm ahead of time and under budget and have somehow come up with the same answer that the other companies will give.

I figure a million quid will do me nicely and save the government money.

[Howard Sway]

identification of the correct commercial and operational models to deliver the technology strategy

May I suggest "buy some computers" and "write applications to do stuff and run them on those computers" ?

I mean, what other "strategies" are there once you've waded through the £500 million worth of guff about transformational service aquisition blah blah?

[hoola]

Re: identification of the correct commercial and operational models to deliver the......

Covering one's arse.

This is all about being able to transfer responsibility when things (inevitably) fail to deliver what was actually required.

If manglement can use a framework they will because it provides validation for their decisions. It is irrelevant if it delivers any value for those needing to use the resulting solution.

[amanfromMars 1]

Re: identification of the correct model to deliver the technology strategy

I suppose the secret is to make things extremely simple for them not to stray too far away from the straight and narrow way, Howard Sway, and even initiate live demonstrations of what is now and future available, and as was earlier revealed in answers on a postcard below.

And .... they may much better enjoy being a paying passenger on future programmed journeys far more than worrying in the wallows about the fact that they are not yet suitably equipped for/with leading drivers.

[Anonymous Coward]

I’m not a huge fan of Accenture

but I’ve never heard of the other 4. Are we absolutely sure they aren’t friends and family of Conservative cabinet members set up to repeat the PPE contract scam that they should have been jailed for but weren’t?

[elregidente]

Accenture in my limited experience are catastrophically bad

A fairly recent and very large client had a contract with Accenture, who handled their AWS stuff for them.

I had almost no involvement with them, so I almost cannot speak first-hand, but I heard from colleagues a new EC2 instance would take *six weeks* to be delivered.

I did observe one interaction with their staff. The number of people on the CC: went through the roof - a colleague started off by alerting one or two people to a problem, and then a week later (by which time the problem had long been solved) there were a bunch of people on the CC:, with Accenture (who never did grasp that there had been a problem, or that it had been fixed) explaining to us there hadn't been a problem at all, and giving their (incorrect) best guess as to what had probably happened.

I get the feeling Accenture are picked by managers, not by staff, and then are retained because they tick all the corporate-level boxes. The fact their *actual service* seems staggeringly, mind-bogglingly awful *and supremely expensive*, doesn't seem to come much into it.

If the Gov is selecting Accenture, I think we can know right from the off it's going to be another few billion down the drain.

[yetanotheraoc]

Re: Accenture in my limited experience are catastrophically bad

"supremely expensive"

That's how we know they are the best.

[Anonymous Coward]

An Example From El Reg....And Only Three Days Ago......

Link: https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/05/palantir_covid_data_store/

1. NHS hire Palantir

2. Palantir build database

3. Palantir refuse access to the database......requested by their client, the actual NHS!!

.........this is where outsourcing gets you......you pay through the nose for services WHICH YOU CANNOT ACCESS.......

.........or maybe you just have TO PAY EXTRA!!!!

Fantastic value for taxpayers!!!! And more of the same to come!!!!