back to article BBC waves £230m of feepayers' dosh at tech backbone deal

The Beeb is dangling hundreds of millions of license fee payers’ pounds in front of network sellers for upgrading its plumbing and serving up connectivity services for years to come. The contract notice, published in the Official Journal of the European Union, reveals Auntie is seeking to appoint a “single supplier” for the …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    LOL @ the BEEB using ATOS. The outsourcing company so crap that they had to outsource their own support to someone else (Kelway).

  2. cs94njw

    Who wants to bet that BT wins this contract?

    It wouldn't surprise me if BT becomes the blackhole of tax payer's money. They'll use Tech Mahindra for the support, allow OpenRetch to give them a sweet deal on infrastructure, and then give the remaining £200m to shareholders and execs :(

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      I'm not betting on BT...

      The BBC already use multiple suppliers for interconnectivity - much of it is provided by Vodaphone at the moment (was Cable and wireless, was National Grid)

      It used to be nearly all BT but the BBC went to out to tender many years ago and NGW came out best.

      1. cs94njw

        Re: I'm not betting on BT...

        Really!? Phew!

  3. Truffle

    So, basic rule of building an effective and efficient team? Make sure the team consists of all the people needed to get the entire job done (preferably the minimum number).

    And put them all in the same room.

    By splitting up all these contracts into lots of small 'specialist' contracts, all they're doing is adding a massive amount of inefficiency into the process. I wonder if they will track how much time is wasted waiting for replies to queries and requests to/from other companies.

    I can see huge out of date gantt charts on the walls now, and the words "oh well we are waiting on X to complete Y before we can continue...we've emailed them, but they haven't replied yet.".

  4. IHateWearingATie

    I thought the cabinet office had moved away from the 'tower' model?

    Wasn't the Tower model all the rage in the late 2000s and Cabinet Office had now recommended public sector bodies to move away from it?

    Unless the Beeb are way ahead of time and anticipating the inevitable pendulum swing back to it in 10 years time?

  5. Lusty

    eh?

    Doesn't the supplier normally tell the customer what the price will be? Surely they are putting themselves in a poor negotiating position by stating a price up front.

    1. Jellied Eel Silver badge

      Re: eh?

      Not really. It's a wide range and it gives prospective bidders an idea if it's worth bidding. If a quick eyeball of the service requirements comes up with a cost of £250m then it's a quick 'No Bid'. Or usually fending off over-eager sales people who just see the £230m and think of their potential commission..

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I worked for BBC Technology when it was sold to Siemens Business Services, frankly they had no idea what they were buying and everyone suffered as a result. The BBC's connectivity was provided by BBC Technology who owned huge quantities of fibre infrastructure around London and leased fibre all around the UK. BBC Technology also was bundled with the BBC's telephony and IT services. Basically BBC Technology was a successful department, it turned a profit because it also sold services to all the UK broadcasters and it wasn't small, so BBC management felt they had to dispose of it otherwise they would be open to criticism.

    Siemens struggled to support the BBC's needs because they didn't appreciate what the BBC did and certainly in the broadcast communications area they didn't understand the SLAs, Subsequently they sold the department to Atos because of this and I am not sure Atos knew any more. I love the BBC but the political pressures on them and their general culture make wasting money in this way very common. Had the BBC not outsourced their IT and broadcast communications services I am sure they would have saved a lot of money.

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