Press Release - The National Offender
Management Information System
12 March 2009
An initiative, begun in 2004, by the National
Offender Management Service to build a single offender management
IT system for the prison and probation services has not delivered
value for money. A National Audit Office investigation found the
project had been hampered by poor management leading to a
three-year delay, a doubling in project costs and reductions in
scope and benefits.
More recently, the National Offender
Management Service has made progress in getting the project back on
track; but the core aim of the original project of a single shared
database of offenders will not be met. The Service has however
reduced the number of databases used from 220 to three.
The project to provide an IT system to support
a new way of working with offenders was to be introduced by January
2008, and had an approved lifetime cost of £234 million to 2020. By
July 2007, £155 million had been spent on the project, it was two
years behind schedule, and estimated lifetime project costs had
risen to £690 million. The Minister of State at the Ministry
of Justice called a halt to the project while options to get the
budget under control were sought.
Many of the causes of the delays and cost
overruns could have been avoided with better management. There was
inadequate management oversight and the technical complexity of the
project was significantly underestimated. Budget monitoring
was absent and change control weak. In addition, the main
supplier contracts were designed in such a way that sufficient
pressure could not be brought to bear on suppliers to deliver to
time and cost.
In January 2008, the National Offender
Management Service began work on a rescoped programme with an
estimated lifetime cost of £513 million and a delivery date of
March 2011. They opted for the lowest cost approach,
which would deliver the Service’s revised needs, although this
option did not have the best benefit to cost ratio.
The full financial impact of the delays is
uncertain, but it is likely to be at least £41 million; £15 million
of which has been spent on aspects of the project which have now
been cut from the design. £226 million has been spent on
the project so far and roll-out of the system to prisons is
expected to commence in April 2009.
Tim Burr, head of the National Audit Office,
said today:
“The initiative to introduce a
single offender management database has been
expensive and ultimately
unsuccessful. These problems could have been avoided if the
National Offender Management Service had established realistic
budget, timescales and governance for the project at the start and
followed basic project management principles in its
implementation. In delivering the new reduced
programme, NOMS need to focus on better financial controls and more
effective management oversight.”
Notes for Editors
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The policy of end to end offender management
was introduced following Lord Carter’s Correctional Services Review
in 2003. Under this system an offender is supervised by a
single offender manager throughout their sentence, whether it is
served in custody or in the community. The aim of one
integrated information system was to improve information sharing
about offenders; address the lack of continuity and follow up of
interventions with offenders as they move within the prison system
and between prison and the community; and to provide a clearer
alignment of prison and probation work with offenders.
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Press notices and reports are available from
the date of publication on the NAO website, which is at
www.nao.org.uk. Hard copies can be obtained
from The Stationery Office on 0845 702 3474.
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The Comptroller and Auditor General, Tim Burr,
is the head of the National Audit Office which employs some 850
staff. He and the NAO are totally independent of
Government. He certifies the accounts of all Government
departments and a wide range of other public sector bodies; and he
has statutory authority to report to Parliament on the economy,
efficiency and effectiveness with which departments and other
bodies have used their resources.
Press Notice 17/09
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