from tomorrow's Electronic Telegraph:

ISSUE 1619 Sunday 31 October 1999

Passport fiasco firm will revamp MoT By Rajeev Syal

THE German electronic giant blamed for this summer's passport fiasco is to be awarded a #100 million government contract to computerise the MoT system.

Siemens will oversee the installation of 19,000 terminals in Britain's garages despite a damning National Audit Office report last week. It concluded that the company made mistakes in its Passport Office operation costing millions of pounds and causing extensive disruption to travellers.

The decision, to be announced this week and leaked to The Telegraph, is expected to cause uproar. John Redwood, the shadow environment and transport minister, said he would be tabling questions in the House of Commons demanding to know why Siemens has been granted the contract by the deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott.

Mr Redwood said: "The public must be reassured that Siemens is not going to make the same mistakes again, only this time with our cars. People will have understandable worries that the company blamed for a national embarrassment has been granted another contract."

The contract will put Siemens in charge of linking Britain's MoT testing to a central database that will record details of Britain's 30 million vehicles and their test results. It will allow data to be compared with information from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority and is due to be in place by the end of 2001.

The decision to bring in the new MoT system was taken three years ago because the Government received complaints from police that MoT certificates were easily forged. The problems with the Siemens computer system in the Passport Office resulted in queues up to a mile long outside Britain's passport offices.

More than half a million applications were outstanding and 500 people missed their holidays because of the delay. The report last week from the National Audit Office, Parliament's spending watchdog, said Siemens could have been ordered to pay penalties of at least #402,000 for problems with the computer system. It was eventually decided to fine the company #127,000.

The report concluded that the computer was "the initial cause" of the problems and revealed that the Passport Agency spent #16,000 on umbrellas for applicants waiting in rain. Those who missed their flights because of the delays have been paid #161,000 in compensation - at least #110,000 more than the agency budgets for such errors.

The Government is expected to increase the cost of passports to help pay for the problems. It will cost #12.6 million in total to rectify failures by Siemens and the Passport Agency. Jack Straw, the Home Secretary, tried to defuse the controversy of more than 500,000 unprocessed applications and long queues at offices by saying Siemens was being fined.

Siemens was also responsible for the fiasco at the Home Office's Immigration Department. An attempt to computerise the claims for sanctuary from refugees resulted in a backlog of 80,000 asylum claims building up. Mr Straw blamed a computer system operated by Siemens at the Immigration and Nationality Directorate's headquarters in Croydon, Surrey, for the backlog.

He told the House of Commons that the previous Conservative government should have thought twice before signing a "virtually" unbreakable contract with the company. Siemens was awarded the contract in 1996 under the private finance initiative to computerise and modernise the immigration service. The computer was supposed to be in place by last November, but a pilot scheme only came on line in June.

A spokesman for the company rejected Mr Straw's accusations. A spokesman for Siemens Business Services said: "We do not accept that our contract with the Immigration and Nationality Directorate has been the principal reason why there have been problems in Croydon."

The problems with the passport agency also led to the Government reviewing its timetable for establishing a criminal records bureau. In October, the Home Office invited bids from companies that want to provide a computer system for the bureau. So far 93 companies have expressed an interest in the project.

Insiders at the Transport Inspectorate confirmed last week that Siemens had won the contract. Bidding began two years ago before the problems with the passport agency began. Lord Whitty, Under Secretary of State for Transport, is understood to have overseen the tendering process.

A spokesman for the Automobile Association said its members would be concerned to hear that Siemens had been offered the contract. He said: "We hope the government learns from the mistakes made at the passport office."

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), October 30, 1999

Answers

Damn, Old Git, I thought you lived in North Carolina.. where do you keep comin up with all this UK stuff?

-- Hawk (flyin@high.again), October 30, 1999.

She's a Limey like me "hawk"!

I preferred your old handle :)

There's an outside chance I'll make it back to Blighty Old Git if my planning pays off - here's hoping :)

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), October 30, 1999.

I knew you was a limey Andy Capp, but you live in England don't you?

Well, as far as my new handle goes, some troll started spreadin all kinds of crap around using my old name so I gave it up since it had been confusing several times before with "a" and "A" (some people are blind I guess). Maybe I'll think up a real good one... any suggestions?

-- Hawk (flyin@high.again), October 31, 1999.

Um, well, not QUITE like you, Andy, VBG. Bring back your supply of Marmite when you go--I was extorted of $20 for a jar the other day. And for God's sake, don't lose your passport!

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), October 31, 1999.