Commercial court: technology project ‘should have been implemented by now’

The Commercial Court could have had an electronic filing and document management (EFDM) system in place for its office move in 2010, but instead the project has languished for more than two years, having already racked up costs of nearly £5m, the Gazette can reveal.

So far the government has spent £4.71m on EFDM and related project work, but it has yet to run even a pilot study, despite a system being available to HM Courts Service (HMCS) in 2006. The Gazette understands key funding decisions will not now be made until June 2009.

When the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Phillips, released his first review of the courts system in April, he complained that ‘phase 2 will not be ready for piloting… in the new Rolls Building in 2010’, and blamed HMCS for failing to provide funds to implement the plans.

However, ‘phase 2’ could have been delivered in 2006, a source close to the IT process has told the Gazette, but the project was halted.

Another company, management consultant PA Consulting, were brought in to work on the then Commercial Court IT (CCIT) project and told government in a report in January 2006 to 'maintain the current momentum and take action to begin the business casework immediately'. Instead, government team leaders decided that a national system should be built, but little appears to have been done.

According to one of the documents the Gazette has obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, current IT contractors to the Ministry of Justice recently mapped out a timeline for a national system that ran over nearly three years, proving that, had the project been moved forward in 2006 as PA Consulting recommended, it would have been implemented this year.

Tony Guise, chairman of the Commercial Litigation Association and a member of the IT and the Courts Committee, ITAC, agreed that ‘if we look at that timeframe, we should be seeing implementation by now’. ‘At the end of the day it’s a question of commitment – you have to put the money in, which they are doing, albeit belatedly,’ he added. ‘[HMCS] acknowledges that other countries do have good systems, it’s not rocket science.’

Read the full text of the MoJ’s response to our FoI request below:

Dear Mr White

Subject: FOl Application on EFDM

Regarding your request for:

la. "The Commercial Court IT Project (CCIT), including consultant costs, internal costs, and any work done by external contractors in terms of software, hardware and any other bought in work. Please provide these costs broken down as far as possible."

The following table indicates the costs incurred by the CCIT project. These costs are shown broken down by financial year and highlights expenditure both internally and externally.

Financial Year 05/06Consultant and Contractor: £400,098Internal Cost: £685,788Total: £1,085,886

Financial Year 06/07Consultant and Contractor: £101,033Internal Cost: £284,092Total: £385,125

TotalConsultant and Contractor: £501,131Internal Cost: £969,880Total: £1,471,011

l b. "The government's EFDM project (Electronic Filing and Document Management). By project I mean all work done internally and externally on planning and any pilot implementations. Please provide these costs broken down as far as possible."

The following table indicates the costs incurred by the EFDM programme since its inception in August 2005 through to March 2008 (the latest financial position currently available). These costs are shown broken down by stage and highlights expenditure both internally and externally.

Feasibility Study (Aug 05 Dec 05)Consultant and Contractor: £136,300Internal Cost: £52,308Total: £188,608

Programme Initiation (Jan 06 Jun 06)Consultant and Contractor: £470,948Internal Cost: £73,601Total: £544,549

Programme Definition (Jul 06 Jun 07)Consultant and Contractor: £860,453Internal Cost: £377,483Total: £1,237,936

EFDM (Jul 07 Mar 08)Consultant and Contractor: £815,813Internal Cost: £454,022Total: £1,269,835

TOTALConsultant and Contractor: £2,283,514Internal Cost: £957,414Total: £3,240,928

2. "Any and all planning, meeting and action documents relating to BOTH CCIT and the EFDM 'project'. Any document or plan that strategically outlines what will be required to be done to determine in more detail the timelines for implementation of EFDM, and which related government projects, systems and applications (such as case management systems) need to be figured into these timelines. If no such plans exist, please state this."

We have searched our records and the following reports would appear to fall within the scope of your request:

Feasibility study into a commercial model for Electronic Filing and Document Management (EFDM) in the civil and family courts, Summary of the Final Report, published in January 2006.

Under Section 21 of the Act we are not required to provide information which is already reasonably accessible to you. The information you requested is available via the following link:

www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/docs/publications/efdm_feasibility_study_summary_report.pdf

Additionally, Logica have just issued a prospectus and pre qualification questionnaire (enclosed) to the market which sets out our current assumptions. These assumptions include a high level timetable showing the implementation approach as well as the procurement timetable.

Sections 43 (2) provides for the exemption of information on the basis that if it was disclosed under the Act, it would or would be likely, to prejudice the commercial interests of any person, including the public authority holding it. Although we have considered the public interest in the transparency of Government, the commercially related functions of the Department need in any event to be exercised in the wider context of the public interest.

There is a general public interest in openness and transparency and in ensuring that that the public are aware of how much money is being spent and the benefits derived from that expenditure.

With regards CCIT, phase 2 was never formalised, as a result there are no planning documents relating to it. However discussions regarding this particular project remain ongoing and therefore the information held remains commercially sensitive. The disclosure of the information is likely therefore to prejudice the commercial interests of the Department and of the potential bidders as part of the CCIT and EFDM projects. There is an inherent public interest in ensuring that companies are able to compete fairly and that there is fair competition for public sector contracts.

Documentation over and above the EFDM Business Prospectus and Pre Qualification Questionnaire that refers to potential further work within the CCIT project and the wider EFDM programme contains commercially sensitive information regarding business partners and sub contractors.

Disclosure of the information in a manner which fails to protect the interests and relationships arising in a commercial context could have the effect of discouraging the companies from dealing with the Department because of fears that disclosure of the information could damage them commercially particularly as the tendering process is still ongoing.

This could in turn deter companies from supplying commercially sensitive information, and ultimately undermine the ability of the Department to carry out a successful procurement exercise, adversely affecting the IT projects and any future projects. Whilst the tender exercise is still being carried out, the public interest is best satisfied by maintaining confidentiality in order to ensure the integrity of the process. The information is therefore exempt under Section 43 of the Act.

3. Any and all documents detailing and/or describing the functional requirements of: EFDM; CCIT, including all phases.

The EFDM programme is currently completing Requirements Definition. As this stage is primarily concerned with detailing the functional requirements of an EFDM solution these have not yet been completed to any greater detail than those indicated within Annex A of the prospectus provided for 2, above.