The news (Media Guardian) that BSkyB will get £318m in compensation for delayed delivery (six years from contract to working) of a customer computer system will create some jealousy at the BBC. Sky's contract was with EDS, later taken over by Hewlett Packard, and the original deal was worth £48m.
The majority of the BBC's technology is delivered in"partnership" with Siemens, and it's never clear what recompense there is when the partner fails to deliver. Mark Thompson and Zarin Patel, usually in response to NAO attack, repeat the mantra that the Corporation has saved more than it anticipated from deal. But it's very hard to put a price on a newsroom working without phones (the very shaky move to VOIP phones) or the knock on effects of digital archive systems that simply do not arrive. And many would prefer straightforward, individual contracts for such projects, with clear penalties for failure.
We may get more transparency on the Siemens deal when the NAO start as formal BBC auditors.
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