Re: Looks like EDS were seen off...
Hey AC, there's a flip side to your argument that you maybe want to consider. Maybe DII hasn't been an utter fiasco because the customer (MoD) has finally got their shit together. I used to work for a MoD supplier (not EDS!) and it made me weep to see how projects were delayed and made more costly because the civil servants couldn't make a decision and stick to it.
And as a victim of outsourced projects I'll really disagree with your assessment - task #1 is to make sure that there's a clear management line, and don't waste everyone's time by duplicating what your suppliers are doing, or micromanaging them. Oh, and last time I checked (see http://www.atlasconsortium.info/visionandmission) - there's more than just EDS doing DII, so there's plenty of shoulders to bear credit (or blame!). That said - ahem - I won't disagree that EDS-UK is in desperate need of a management refresh - maybe HP will be able to do something on this (fingers crossed).
Kudos to the DII teams though - 3% uplift when (I assume) there's been a little feedback from the extended Iraqistan deployments is not unreasonable. Now - as the article says - no sitting on (wilted?) laurels, time to focus more on increasing the velocity of delivery guys and gals!
Meanwhile el Reg editors : any chance of giving the esteemed Mr Page a holiday? Here's a story with MoD and EDS in it and he seems to have failed to serious slag off either - and he's not trotted out the usual "DefenceUK sucks - we need to buy everything from the USA" line as usual So I'm guessing that he's tired and in need of two weeks in the Bahamas or Florida to recover... :D