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Fujitsu wins £9m contract hike for Oracle HR system running nearly 3 years late at Northern Ireland Education Authority

(2021/06/29)


Fujitsu has been awarded a £9.2m contract extension by the Northern Ireland Education Authority for changes to the implementation of an Oracle HR and payroll system that is already nearly three years late.

The project – first known as the EA Integrated Financial Management Information System, now dubbed EA One Project – began in 2015 with a £20m contract award to the Japanese supplier. But, according to [1]a tender award notice published last week, the authority said the new award was necessary to "facilitate functionality changes to effectively meet schools' requirements, data migration issues due to the complexity of the variations in employee terms and conditions, and project delays due to COVID-19 lockdowns."

The notice continued: "This modification will enable the continuation of the existing single contractor managed service arrangement which includes the supply of a broad range of computer and related services, information technology consultancy services and the supply of computer hardware, software and associated products.

[2]

"The systems and services provided via the current contract have been uniquely configured to reflect the varying requirements of the Education Authority and its associated bodies."

[3]

[4]

The [5]EA One website said the project would produce a "single and integrated finance, procurement, recruitment, HR and payroll system which will make processes more efficient, enhance end-user experience and deliver improved reporting capabilities."

[6]Parliament demands to know the score with Fujitsu as Post Office Horizon scandal gets inquiry with legal teeth

[7]UK government rings £1.5bn dinner bell for software design and implementation, 54 vendors come running

[8]Up to £80m on the table in University of Nottingham's search for service provider to lace together IT support

[9]MoJ cancels £100m ERP procurement to get in line with UK government shared service strategy

While finance, procurement, and recruitment systems were already live, the HR and Payroll system was expected in the academic year 2021/22.

But that was not the original plan. In a statement on its website, [10]Fujitsu said the contract started November 2015 with a project implementation phase followed by a 10-year support contract.

"The Fujitsu shared platform will go live in financial year 2016 for EA. There will be a phased go-live for the payrolls and associated HR components beginning in October 2017. The project implementation is planned to complete in October '18 when a full managed support contact will be in place," the company said in a statement.

[11]

The system was due to be designed on a shared infrastructure platform using the "multi-organisational features of the Oracle eBusiness Suite."

The Education Authority has been contacted for a statement, as has Fujitsu.

Meanwhile, Northern Ireland's Land and Property Services has awarded a contract to IT service provider Version1 Software for £7m over a maximum of four years.

[12]

The contract covers enterprise architecture services, design, build and implementation of an enterprise application integration platform, implementation of a master data management model, data management services, software development and support services, and more, the [13]award notice said .

The deal comes on top of [14]an agreement to pay Fujitsu up to £87m to rollover support for an Oracle HR system that dates back to 2006 in a contract awarded without competition. Land and Property Services said that its £185m strategic partnership with Fujitsu, which initially went to tender in 2003, came to an end on 29 March 2021 and that it had "become unavoidably necessary to continue to maintain the existing systems and services beyond this point." ®

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[1] https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/014371-2021

[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/databases&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YNtDoZdzqVGDJ3mpwPv85AAAANU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0

[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/databases&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YNtDoZdzqVGDJ3mpwPv85AAAANU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/databases&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YNtDoZdzqVGDJ3mpwPv85AAAANU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[5] https://www.eani.org.uk/ea-staff-hub/ea-one

[6] https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/19/post_office_horizon_scandal_public_inquiry_announced/

[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/08/uk_software_framework_agreement/

[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/16/university_of_nottingham_it_services/

[9] https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/29/moj_cancels_100m_erp_procurement/

[10] https://www.fujitsu.com/uk/about/local/fujitsu-northern-ireland/investni/

[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/databases&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YNtDoZdzqVGDJ3mpwPv85AAAANU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/databases&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YNtDoZdzqVGDJ3mpwPv85AAAANU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[13] https://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:322226-2021:TEXT:EN:HTML

[14] https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/18/northern_ireland_awards_fujitsu_deal/

[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/

Potemkine!

EA Integrated Financial Management Information System, now dubbed EA One Project

For £200K, I can provide you a new project name. Special discount, add £150K and I also provide an awesome logo

More money going abroad

Dave 15

And being wasted. I guess some civil servants have a nice full back pocket though

Re: More money going abroad

Anonymous Coward

I think you'll find that Fujitsu UK is a separate company, just sharing the name.

Re: More money going abroad

idiot taxpayer here again

@a/c

Follow the link. I think you will find it is a division of Fujitsu

https://www.fujitsu.com/uk/

Re: More money going abroad

TimMaher

It’s ICL.

FTFY.

So many project failures are being rewarded

Pascal Monett

And it feels like it's always the same names that come back to the trough.

How is it possible ?

Re: So many project failures are being rewarded

AndyJF

Did they learn nothing from the Horizon disaster?

Re: So many project failures are being rewarded

idiot taxpayer here again

@Pascal Monett

Probably because those names have the largest slush funds

Horizon

Dale 3

I would be nervous about getting my software from Fujitsu, despite their track record of producing perfect bug-free software.

How hard can it be?

Anonymous Coward

It must be very hard to be the first organisation to put a brand new technology stack in and find all the pitfalls and problems. Oh wait.. what’s that.. e-Biz suite has been around for years with many successful implementations in complex businesses? Why do none of these integrators learn from past successes and failures?

A Big Kick

Uncle Ron

I always get a big kick out of all the self-righteous criticism of these public-sector procurements. Private-sector operations have all the same problems and snafus and failures as happen in the public-sector, it just doesn't get in the papers. It's private. Plus, the onerous specification and bidding procedures and low-bid requirements aren't nearly as stupid, inflexible, and self-defeating in the private-sector as they are in public entities. Never, ever forget: It's easy to spec a window air conditioner and take the low bid, with complex integrated IT systems, not so much.

I can resist everything except temptation. -Oscar Wilde