Bungled supercomputer project cost police £200m

the mismanagement behind Police Scotland’s failed supercomputer project, which has cost potential savings of £200million, has been revealed.

Auditors have laid bare the scale of the fall-out between the force and the contractor.

Only weeks after signing a contract, Police Scotland and Accenture disagreed about whether the system could be delivered.

the Auditor General’s investigation into the i6 project will today reveal that, within months of the £46million deal being agreed, police chiefs considered taking legal action against Accenture.

the project was aimed at bringing together separate systems run by the eight legacy forces before Police Scotland’s 2013 launch.

But following three years of glitches, delays and disagreements, i6 was scrapped last year.

Justice Secretary Michael Matheson said there would be ‘no loss’ to the public purse. But this did not reflect wasted man hours or the loss of savings Audit Scotland today reveals had been projected at £200million over ten years.

earlier this year, it was admitted Police Scotland is facing a funding gap of £188million by 2020-21.

Scottish Labour deputy justice spokesman Mary Fee said: ‘It is deeply concerning that this project went seriously wrong so quickly. the SNP has presided over another It debacle.’

Scottish tory justice spokesman Douglas Ross said: ‘the need to modernise Police Scotland’s outdated and inefficient It systems remains. It’s important we use this report to determine the appropriate steps to deliver a more effective system.’

After the project was terminated, the Scottish Police Authority agreed a £24.7million settlement from Accenture.

Police Scotland director of information and communications technology Martin Leven said: ‘While the project did not deliver what it set out to, we were committed to working with Accenture.’

An Accenture spokesman said: ‘there were challenges and issues on both sides. Despite our best efforts, it was not possible to agree the necessary changes and we agreed to end the project.’

A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘We welcome the report, which outlines a number of areas of good practice as well as factors behind the decision to terminate the project, enabling police and other public services to learn from its conclusions.’

‘Another IT debacle from the SNP’