Louise McCarthy, former head of IT transformation at HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), has raised concerns about problems with government procurement following the recent outage of Fujitsu and Post Office Horizon IT systems.
McCarthy, who saved taxpayers more than £200 million by successfully negotiating Aspire’s £800 million-a-year outsourcing contract with Capgemini and Fujitsu a decade ago, says he is disappointed at the failure to resolve similar issues.
Aspire contracts like Horizon suffer from opaque pricing, questionable performance and lack of accountability. Despite efforts for transparency and value for money, McCarthy believes lessons learned are quickly forgotten.
The Post Office Horizon scandal, which caused serious damage to branch managers due to software errors and carelessness, revealed the urgent need for foreign currency exchange in government procurement.
McCarthy emphasized the importance of transparency, fairness and strong oversight throughout the lifespan of IT contracts to prevent similar injustices in the future. He called for ending reliance on a single contract and promoting competition and innovation through the development of a multi-supplier ecosystem, especially for small and medium-sized businesses.
In addition, McCarthy emphasized the importance of transparency and accountability, which includes all stakeholders in the decision-making process and holds everyone accountable. She emphasized that to increase efficiency and reduce costs, it is necessary to focus on data and microservices, move away from legacy systems and use technology.
The ongoing public investigation into the Horizon scandal is seen as an important step in resolving the problem by holding everyone accountable for their role in the scandal. But McCarthy believes changes in public procurement are necessary to prevent history from repeating itself.
As a non-executive director and board advisor to several companies, McCarthy continues to advocate for public interest procurement processes that importers are entitled to. He emphasized that urgent measures must be taken to prevent the spread of the virus. for the sake of the sake of the sake of the sake of the sake of the sake of the sake of the sake of the sake of the sake of
McCarthy’s realization that reform is urgently needed to ensure that Government practices are transparent, fair and honest. Certification in awarding and managing IT contracts.
