inadequately specified requirements; ž delays in the DSS’s CAPS project which would link to the Card system; ž deterioration in services to customers, such as unacceptable queuing time at post offices; and ž poor performance by the supplier.
However, the NAO concluded that this register did not include assessments of prob- ability and impact, nor did it allocate risks to ‘owners’ for management, or propose options to mitigate the risks. The NAO also found no evidence that it was then further developed into a fully-featured risk register and actively used in the project.
Specification of requirements
At the time the purchasers invited private sector interest their requirements were defined only at high level. A formal Statement of Service Requirements was only agreed by the DSS and Post Office Counters Ltd in February 1995 and issued to bidders in April 1995, eight months into the procurement. This statement changed subsequently. Consultants producing an assessment of ‘lessons learned’ for the purchasers in November 1997 reported that requirements had increased by between 10 and 20% in the period from April 1995 to February 1996. They said that the increases resulted from clarifications, new requirements not included in the original statement, and detailed documentation of the rules and constraints under which services were to be provided.
In October 1995, in an effort to draw together the detailed requirements, the purchasers started to set up a Requirements Catalogue. It was intended that the catalogue would provide detailed service definitions and that service providers would respond with solutions to them in their bids. However, in November 1995, in response to increasing concerns from the service providers and the purchasers about the time and cost of the procurement, the joint procurement authority that was established by the purchasers to manage the procurement stopped work on developing these service definitions. With the agreement of all three shortlisted bidders, the purchasers stated that detailed requirement definitions would be agreed with the selected supplier after the contract had been awarded, and invited tenders on the basis of higher level specifications. Though work on the Requirements Catalogue was stopped, the purchasers continued to direct additional information on their requirements to the bidders right up to the issue of the formal invitation to submit priced bids. Some 333 additional details and clarifications to requirements were issued between November 1995 and the end of January 1996.
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