Capita's bespoke British Army recruiting IT cost military 25k applicants after switch-on
- Reference: 1595413991
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/07/22/capita_british_army_applications_declined/
- Source link:
The switching-on of bespoke Defence Recruiting System (DRS) IT systems contributed to the lowest number of wannabe Army recruits signing up since 2013 as well as a drop of 22 per cent in the number of applicants.
Figures [1]revealed [PDF] by the Ministry of Defence under Freedom of Information laws showed that in the 2017-18 recruiting year, the Army received a total of 118,950 enquiries about joining. In November 2017, Capita turned on DRS's IT systems, a decision that led to Royal Air Force recruitment [2]grinding to a near-total halt . The following January a minister was [3]forced to admit to Parliament that DRS had "glitches" even as 200 full-time Army recruiters were made redundant.
In the next recruiting year, 2018-19, the Army received 92,850 applications: a decrease of 23,100 applications (22 per cent) year-on-year. At the time, news reports [4]abounded that wannabe Army recruits were simply unable to get through Capita's flawed new system and were dropping out in frustration.
MPs and the Public Accounts Committee alike have [5]previously described the Army as "naive" for signing the "abysmal" 10-year deal with Britain's most notorious outsourcing company.
Capita declined to comment, while insisting that January 2019 saw the highest number of applications received by the Army for five years.
Total applications made in previous years stretching back to 2013-14 were largely flat, with the total number of applicants hovering around the 115,000 mark. A notable exception was 2016-17 when a surprising 191,500 applications were made to join the Army. Around a third of applications were rejected between 2013-14 and 2017-18; fewer were rejected in 2018-19 (24 per cent), perhaps because the overall applicant total was lower.
The Ministry of Defence stopped publishing like-for-like statistics on Armed Forces recruiting in Q3 2017, coinciding with the switch-on of DRS. Nonetheless, generals, ministers and Capita execs alike have all admitted that the project has largely been a failure.
Capita chief exec Jon Lewis told MPs last year that [6]Army clawbacks of £26m on the Recruiting Partnership Programme , of which DRS is a part, had wiped out "close to 100 per cent of the margin on the contract".
The contract is due to end in 2022. Although the MoD has the right to use DRS in perpetuity, it must still pay maintenance fees to Capita for the upkeep of the software. ®
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[1] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/901991/20200401-FOI03250-Unsuccessful_applications-final_Response-REDACTED.pdf
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2017/12/12/raf_recruiting_halted_capita_drs_rpp/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2018/01/16/capita_drs_has_glitches_defence_minister/
[4] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-46567134
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2019/03/01/capita_mod_defence_recruiting_system_project_pac_report/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2019/05/16/army_numbers_down_capita_recruiting/
[7] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Why haven't we banned Capita
I don't think the shareholder dividends can be up to much, every time I read about Crapita their margins are somewhere between one and two percent.
I have no idea what the C suite bonuses are like however.
Re: Why haven't we banned Capita
No dividends paid since 2017.
Re: Why haven't we banned Capita
At that point, the share price had fallen about 60% in two years. Since then, it's fallen to about 5% of what it was 5 years ago.
Re: Why haven't we banned Capita
Rather stupidly, procurement law concerning using past performance to judge a current bid is frowned upon if not illegal. One must therefore get your tender scoring process absolutely bang on to ensure you aren't delivered a turd. MOD has a long history of getting this wrong; Boeing and the Chinooks come to mind. Capita deliver what's asked for - garbage in, garbage out. If it weren't garbage in, Capita wouldn't get the job. What do I know, 20 years experience of writing tenders...
Re: Why haven't we banned Capita
Fodder in Shirley?
A normal SNAFU?
I'm always seeing stories like this, has Capita ever done anything that works? By "works" I mean something that benefits the customers, not the corporate management bonuses.
Now we know where the top brass will be moving to after retiring.
I get it...
Ok, it's the regular 3 monthly "let's bash Capita" story. I'm totally all for that; but isn't there also an argument for saying that the Armed forces simply aren't an attractive career option for a lot of people, hence the lack of applicants?
I can't speak for everyone, but it's certainly not a pathway for life that either of my children entertained.
Re: I get it...
There're also the recent rounds of advertising which may not have done so well at attracting sufficient applicants...
1.3 billion could have given each of the 110,000 recruits a 10 grand bonus. Wouldn't that have just been a bit easier? And put the money in the pockets of the people who deserve it rather than Crapita executives? What is wrong with the world?
Why haven't we banned Capita
The continual expensive failure of Capita to provide reasonable service, let alone good and efficient service, really should have led to a multi-year ban across all public bodies from signing new services from them.
I'm not going to pretend that £130m/year all goes on the IT system - it'll include recruitment teams, marketing, assessment, career guidance and other things - but fundamentally this is a basic HR function. Companies with under £130m/year revenue, let alone HR spend, manage this just fine and it's trivial to scale.
Start giving smaller organisations some of these tasks. Boost the economy, not Capita shareholder dividends. Or if you really are going to be stupid enough to sign Capita, make sure the contract includes performance penalties. Lots of them. Shit, you'll make money on it.