Fujitsu halts bids for UK.gov contracts amid scandal • The Register
Fujitsu has written to UK Authorities to substantiate it should not tender for enterprise within the public sector amid the continued inquiry into the Submit Workplace scandal – weeks after profitable a £485 million ($614 million) contract.
Regardless of the provider of the controversial Submit Workplace Horizon system being scrutinized in Britain like by no means earlier than, it continued to be chosen for costly tasks which can be paid for by taxpayer.
Now not. “We welcome Fujitsu’s determination to pause bidding for work with new Authorities prospects till such time because the inquiry concludes,” a spokesperson for the Cupboard Workplace instructed The Register.
The inquiry, as readers know, facilities on the deployment of Fujitsu’s bug-ridden Horizon accounting system, which made errors in calculating the funds of native Submit Workplace branches run by postmasters and postmistresses.
Some 736 of these managers had been then wrongfully convicted of fraud when errors within the system had been in charge. This destroyed the lives of the numerous concerned, leaving some bankrupt and others feeling suicidal, with a number of succeeding in ending their life. Sixty individuals died earlier than simply seeing any type of justice served.
This week, Fujitsu admitted it has a “moral obligation” to compensate people who had been prosecuted, and has now taken the choice to step again from public sector contract tenders in the intervening time.
That call comes too late for a public sector physique in Northern Eire which handed Fujitsu a contract price £485 million following a contest during which no different suppliers submitted remaining bids for the work.
In a discover printed on December 22, the province’s Schooling Authority awarded the Japanese companies and expertise firm the deal to supply companies together with a faculty administration system for nursery, main, secondary, and different training settings.
The strategic provider settlement is meant to “help and handle a contemporary structure, technical infrastructure and safe companies for faculties,” the contract award notice said.
“These companies will enhance the educational expertise of our younger individuals, supporting instructing by way of expertise, develop expertise for the longer term and help the EA and its academic stakeholders to enhance academic outcomes,” it added.
Nevertheless, The Register has discovered that just one firm made a proper bid for the contract. Regardless of the obvious lack of competitors, the authority awarded the work to Fujitsu.
The variety of tenders acquired highlighted on the contract award discover pertains to the preliminary provider questionnaire stage. Three corporations submitted tenders in December: Capita, TCS, and Fujitsu. By the point of the ultimate tender submission, each Capita – the incumbent provider – and TCS withdrew.
A spokesperson for the Schooling Authority (EA) mentioned that as a part of the Schooling Data Options program, it undertook a procurement in accordance with the NI Public Procurement Coverage and The Public Contracts Laws (2015) Aggressive Process with Negotiation.
“EA confirms that 4 bids had been initially acquired and, following a procurement course of which entails quite a few choice and analysis levels, three tenderers had been invited to bid within the remaining stage. On the shut of this course of, EA acquired one tender and, following remaining analysis, Fujitsu Companies Restricted was awarded the contract,” they mentioned.
“The robustness of the procurement course of and detailed analysis has supplied the EA with an assurance that Fujitsu can and can ship all required companies.”
The spokesperson mentioned the contract will likely be strictly managed to make sure the efficient supply of companies according to the UK authorities’s skilled requirements and Northern Eire procurement coverage.
“The undertaking is within the very early levels of the planning and design part, and the Schooling Authority is firmly dedicated to liaising carefully with faculties and training settings, and to conserving them knowledgeable and concerned as this crucial work progresses,” they mentioned.
The award of a £485 million ($614 million) contract to Fujitsu with out competitors on the remaining stage of tendering will elevate curiosity owing to the concentrate on its involvement within the Horizon Submit Workplace scandal. A tv dramatization about how native department managers had been falsely accused of theft and accounting errors when the pc system, which Fujitsu inherited from ICL, was at fault has introduced the incident to the general public’s consideration.
Politicians and media pundits have questioned why Fujitsu continues to win billions of kilos in work after a few of the victims had convictions quashed in 2019.
The Northern Eire Schooling Authority’s incumbent provider is Capita, which in April 2022 secured a two-year contract extension with the physique to proceed to ship the managed IT service for all of Northern Eire faculties, extending a 10-year relationship.
Fujitsu gives help companies to the authority’s HR, payroll, and finance programs in a £20 million ($25 million) 10-year deal first signed in 2015. The worth was increased to £29 million ($36.7 million) in June 2021 to “facilitate performance modifications to successfully meet faculties’ necessities, knowledge migration points because of the complexity of the variations in worker phrases and situations and undertaking delays attributable to COVID-19 lockdowns,” a young discover mentioned.
Fujitsu refused to remark. ®