The blame game runs
rather like this.
Council decides it needs new computer system as old one cant cope with the amount of BS emanating from whitehall.
So.....
Committee formed to discuss requirements and to lay out the basics of a contract.(during which time whitehall changes its mind about something)
Invite to tender and the usual suspects turn up, list a price and the contract is signed.
Requirements are changed as usual suspects cant deliver on time = more money spent
Whitehall changes its mind again and decides the dropped item needs including = more money spent.
election time : ALL CHANGE = more money spent.
And thus the 2 million pound contract becomes a bloated nightmare costing 50 million.
Time for the blame game to begin.
Cant blame the current committee members as they are only trying to run the project the orginal (and replaced) committee members decided upon, and it would be unfair and highly disruptive to the committess the orginal members now work in if the original members are fired for making a crap decision , and in any case , the contract was drawn up and signed off by the council's legal expert (whos just taken early retirement with a large lump sum and been re-hired as a freelance legal consultant at twice the pay)
So lets go after the usual suspects for over charging .. but they say.. we have a contract signed off allowing us to charge for every varience in the product beyond the original plans. In any case .. sue us (that costs another 10 million in court and lawyer fees)
In the end , the system is delivered 5 years late and now 70 million over budget.... and wont process council tax reciepts because thats been missed off the contract.....
PS
You may laugh at a lot of this... but most of it is based on a true story (that didnt involve computers but a rather large council project near here)