[nicktelford]

They honestly should be blacklisted after the Horizon scandal. Allowing them to get away with it sets a precedent that could encourage other companies to behave just as irresponsibly.

As it stands, is yet another example of privatising profits while socialising the costs, just in this case, the costs weren't (entirely) financial.

[pydry]

A lot of UK government IT is like this and has been forever.

There was a short period under the coalition where GDS was set up and they created a consistent framework for people to work with and would open a portion of the market up to smaller players.

Now it's mostly large bodyshop middlemen like the prime minister's wife's company taking a 70% cut for the work of a cheap offshore developer.

[blibble]

a lot of the problem is the contract procurement rules, which are written so only large companies are capable of bidding

a legacy of EU membership, but I doubt the government has any will to change it