Fujitsu - integrator to the world

There have been some excellent comments about the problems that the Post Office Horizon project has given Fujitsu. I found the articles published by Dai Vaughan and Mike Braken, both of Public.digital, to be useful. Both articles argue that there is a systemic problem with the way government engages technology firms.

That view appears to be backed up by the evidence submitted to the enquiry by an ex-employee of Fujitsu, which highlights poor development practices and a lack of testing for the product rollout.

If that’s true of other projects by Fujitsu, then plenty more governments should be concerned, since 2014 Fujitsu has been awarded over five thousand contracts with a total value of $57bn at an average value of $11.25m for each contract. There are at least $5.9bn of contracts between governments and Fujitsu that are still underway. Over $1.34bn of contracts are underway in the UK alone, including a £50m contract with Scottish Water that is due to run for another five years.

The question facing Fujitsu and others is not just whether their existing projects can be delivered to the professional standards that governments are expecting but whether historical contracts could be subject to review and reappraisal. A recent apology by Paul Patterson on behalf of Fujitsu might be enough to mollify MPs in the UK, but it might also open up questions about whether other governments might have cause to seek redress from Fujitsu for past failures.

This one will run and run.

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