South Wales Evening Post - 17 October 2006
The company behind Swansea Council's controversial £83 million IT system is to be asked to explain why first-year saving targets are down by 70 per cent.
Councillor Rene Kinzett is chairman of the council's eGovernment working party. He has asked IT bosses to explain why the system is failing to meet first-year savings targets of £711,000.
Last week, the Post revealed that savings from the Capgemini scheme could be down by as much as £500,000 in its first full year.
When the deal was signed in January, councillors were told that projected savings worth millions of pounds would help pay for the computer system.
Councillor Kinzett said: "The fact is savings are not as good as they should be. I am concerned because councillors were told that the savings were a conservative estimate.
"We were told that this was the base-case scenario, but after less than 12 months we are being told that it is nowhere near hitting those targets.
"Councillors are here to scrutinise how taxpayers' money is spent. We are taxpayers ourselves and we are very aware of the need to provide value for money."
Councillor Kinzett has now written to Capgemini, the company that is running the IT system, inviting bosses to explain why targets are being missed.
Your Views
Its a bit late to be asking these questions now. Why wasn't this committee doing a better job before the contracts were signed? Will there be an investigation and will we be reading that the person responsible has been allowed to resign with another £60,000 pay-off?
Alison, Uplands
Unlike many of his colleagues, Councillor Kinzett is a capable politician. This is why he is now distancing himself from an electoral disaster called Service@Swansea.
Leigh Jeffreys, Kenfig
First the council overspends nearly three million in the first quarter and then we read that estmates of projected "savings" are nt coming through. Meanwhile, the council cannot sweep the streets properly. Heads should roll over this.
Oliver, Swansea
Rene Kinzett is a spokesman for the ruling political coalition. If he doesn't know why a project that he has personally defended is not delivering anything like the promised savings then he should stand down.
Jason, Swansea
