UKBA criticised for IT delay

The UK Border Agency (UKBA) has been criticised over its delay in delivering a key IT project that is supposed to help it automate processes and reduce costs, ComputerWorld UK reports.

In a report, the National Audit Office (NAO) revealed the delivery of a £385 million Immigration Case Work (ICW) IT system is a year behind schedule and exceeded its original 2011/12 budget by £28 million. IBM signed a contract with the UKBA to be the strategic systems integration partner on the ICW programme in 2008.

According to the NAO assessment, the automated ICT system was £28 million over its original £224 million budget and now is expected to only deliver £106 million in savings, The Information Daily writes.

"Loss of focus, poor governance and a tendency towards optimism bias in planning, delivery and reporting have contributed to the current problems," the report went on to say.

According to Information Age, the UKBA spends £1 billion each year processing immigration applications, and employs 10 000 staff to process those applications.

Launched in 2008, the ICW programme was initially given a budget of £385 million, and was expected to deliver £139 million in annual savings by 2014.

However, by March of this year, it had already spent £252 million - 12% more than the expected £224 million. Cashable savings were just £12 million, half as much as the expected savings by that point.