misceng

UK

retired

As a professional engineer retired from the Civil Service I have seen the development of this process of outsourcing in government.

Professionals were not wanted by the administrators who decided on staffing so the professional's work was privatised. The administrators were then able to go to competitive tender for the services they used to get in-house.

What they lacked was sufficient technical knowledge to specify their real needs so the consultants wrote tender documents, which led to contracts for something other than what was needed. The vast number of failed IT contracts in all branches with vast overruns in cost and time are the result.

It is plain that British companies are following the government lead in losing expertise for which we will all suffer.