South Wales Evening Post - 5 December 2007
Consultants working on Swansea Council's £83 million eGovernment programme were never asked if projected savings were actually achievable, it has been claimed.
The revelation comes as councillors investigate why the authority's controversial IT deal has not delivered the promised millions of pounds in expected savings.
The new system has instead barely achieved 30 per cent of its original savings target.
Quizzing a senior director of management consultants Deloitte, the firm hired to check the deal, councillors were told the company had never been asked to verify whether the original savings estimates claimed by IT from Capgemini were achievable.
They also revealed that they had warned senior council officers and cabinet members about the risks to the authority's budgets if the projected savings targets were not reached.
But the warnings were set aside and the contract to run the eGovernment programme was awarded to Capgemini.
Councillor Rene Kinzett, chairman of the performance scrutiny board, which is carrying out the investigation, said: "It was quite shocking to hear that Deloitte had not been asked by Swansea Council to review the estimated savings figures."
Deloitte was taken on by the council to help it ensure that the final deal with Capgemini delivered value for money, and manage the risks associated with a contract of this size and complexity. To be told that cabinet members and officers were happy to sign off on a contract without proper external scrutiny of the savings figures is staggering."
The revelation contradicts previous information given to the performance scrutiny board, which said that cabinet members believed the savings figures had been verified by external expert advice, added Mr Kinzett.
The warnings from Deloitte, which also made specific reference to the fact that the savings figures had not been scrutinised by Deloitte, were contained in the contract award report which went to cabinet members on Swansea Council in December 2005.
Vice-chairman councillor Mark Child, said: "Delloite clearly felt that it had warned the council in the strongest possible terms about the reliability of the savings figures.
"The board were clearly taken aback, as they have had no previous mention of these warnings from either officers or cabinet members over the past six months of this investigation."
