“However, the MoD didn’t think about how a high-tech computer network would fit into ramshackle military bases and many sites did not have rooms suitable for modern IT equipment”. 

“You would have thought that, after buying radios that wouldn’t fit in the Army’s vehicles, the MoD would have learned to look at where new kit is going to be fitted before installing it.  Clearly it hasn’t”. 

Mr Bacon was speaking as the National Audit Office published its report into the Defence Information Infrastructure (DII) programme.  In 2005, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) awarded a 10-year contract worth an estimated £4.9 billion to ATLAS, a consortium led by EDS.  The contract will replace the MoD’s diverse computer systems with a single information infrastructure, deploying 150,000 terminals at over 2,000 defence sites, including on ships and deployed operations.

The report finds that the DII programme’s evaluation of the average physical condition of defence sites was too optimistic and no formal pilot of the installation process was undertaken.  Assumptions about the availability of up-to-date site plans and statutory Health and Safety documentation, including asbestos and power supply surveys, were incorrect.  At many sites, the MoD struggled to find rooms suitable for DII network and server equipment.  

In order to introduce the new Bowman family of digital radios, 20,000 land vehicles had to be converted to carry the system.  However, poor data on the MoD’s heavily modified vehicle fleet meant that conversion was both slower than anticipated and more expensive. 

4 July 2008

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See also:
NAO REPORT: The Defence Information Infrastructure

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