back to article Big legacy tech companies in UK govt start to feel pinch – report

Big legacy tech firms are finally feeling the pinch of the government's contract "disaggregation" plans, although Brexit could halt that trend - according to an annual report by analyst firm TechMarketView. BT and DXC (formerly HPE's enterprise services biz and CSC) saw a double-digit percentage drop in their government biz, …

  1. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Unhappy

    Unless you're a BT or DXC shareholder are you really bothered?

    I'd like to see no IT con-tractor holding more than 5% of any governments business.

    But while governments remain in thrall to the fantasies of "one stop shops" and "single points of blame" that's not going to happen is it?

  2. steelpillow Silver badge
    Unhappy

    Do I look bothered?

    The Big Corporate lever is not so much single-point-of-paperwork as scale and resources to sort out problems. Government beancounters hate writing off an unsuccessful project and somebody cocking it up is a powerful reason why gov't projects fail. By getting in bed with a Big Boy, you convince yourself that they will be able to throw resources at any cock-up to sort it out and meet your delivery targets. Cost escalation then becomes a blame game between the legal teams, i.e. Somebody Else's Problem. Small fry just don't have that kind of backup resource to call on.

    Of course, F/LOSS licensing blows that corporate stitch-up out of the water, but that requires a change of procurement policy, nay even a rewriting of the Preferred List and Approved Catalogue, a painful process which government departments are singularly unwilling to carry out.

  3. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

    Looking at some of the recent news they'll be looking for some yet-to be defined temporary customs, frictionless import/export or other magic nostrum to be ready by Brexit. Temporary. Right.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      "Looking at some of the recent news they'll be looking for some yet-to be defined temporary customs, frictionless import/export or other magic nostrum to be ready by Brexit. Temporary. Right."

      Right, nudge nudge, say no more, a nod's as good as a wink to a blind man, cor blimey guvn'r, know what I mean? Hey, is that a parrot out there?

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