Post by nickd on Aug 28, 2012 23:19:20 GMT 1
Atos holds £3bn of government contracts
But what about its links with the Ministry of Justice?...
The Guardian has revealed French firm Atos has more than 3 billion pounds worth of government contracts. In this article we take a look at Atos and their links with the Ministry of Justice and government in general. The question this poses; is justice compromised by Atos having such a predominant commercial interest in government?
Here's what the Guardian say: "Controversial Paralympic sponsor has won work across Whitehall as well as running work capability assessments"
"Ministers have outsourced more than £3bn of public services to Atos, the multinational IT firm whose sponsorship of the Paralympics has prompted a nationwide campaign by disability activists."
"A series of parliamentary questions from Labour MP Tom Greatrex reveals the value of contracts with Atos is now more than a third higher than the amount outsourced by the last government. The replies expose how far the reach of the company extends in Whitehall.
The revelations come as the company, which conducts controversial medical assessments for benefit claims on behalf of the government, reaps the benefits of its association with the Olympic and Paralympic movement. City analysts estimate that Atos's work for the London Olympic and Paralympic Games is worth £200m in revenues. They say its sponsorship of the events helps showcase "its technology and project management capabilities".
On Wednesday disabled protesters will deliver a coffin filled with 85 pages of complaints from people and their families who have been told they have to get a job despite suffering from serious impairments. They point out that 1,100 people died last year after failing the test for the new incapacity benefit". Read more in the Guardian. [/i]
At the hub of the Atos uproar is the
Work Capability Assessment
Thousands of disabled claimants are being wrongly assessed....
At the very hub of the rising concern over Atos is the infamous 'Work Capability Assessment' , the assessment is angering thousands of disabled and incapacitated people because it is carried out by healthcare professionals employed by Atos who utilise a computer software system to assess people's fitness for work. Many are saying that the Atos healthcare professionals are simply spending too much time ticking boxes as they use assess benefit claimants with the aid of their 'Lima Logic system' which awards points for limitations experienced the claimants being assessed. If the claimant is awarded 15 points or more the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) confirms an award of 'Employment & Support Allowance'. An award of the allowance is meant to trigger a package of support to help claimants with health problems find work through the Government's flagship 'Work Programme'. In reality the assessment is leading to a huge reduction in awards for the support allowance and has been widely criticised by many.
The problem is that the government and its ministerial departments are reliant on having to outsource public money contracts to firms like Atos because they see them as the means of bringing about an economic recovery. It is only these large firms which can afford to contract with the State using a new range of contracts which include those 'paid upon results'. The DWP's contract with Atos is not specifically a 'payment by result' (PBR) contract, but be under no illusion the emphasis is still very much on achieving the right results.
With government's reliance on the major movers and shakers in public contracting you have to wonder how much these large firms are calling the shots. Government has put all its eggs in one almighty global basket which they justify because by and large they are locked in to a number of 'buy now pay later' arrangements. The problem with these arrangements is they are all geared to collecting the cash once the results have been delivered, it's all very well if the results are genuinely achieved and the longer-term payment structure financially viable. But can we really attach this 'results based' philosophy to a judicial system which is meant to deliver justice?
I think we do need to take a long hard look at this Atos alliance. Atos and government are joined at the hip in their commitment to deliver economic growth so are they really going to let something like justice get in the way? It becomes even more questionable when justice starts to concern thousands of benefit claimants who government undoubtedly sees as being overly reliant on the State.
There seems little doubt that the justice department is being tasked with delivering economic growth over an above justice particularly when it concerns those who are already poor, government is making it all too clear that benefit claimants are seen as a burden rather than a responsibility; by comparison you have to examine how government looks upon firms such as Atos with its apparent trust in all that they do and say, it's almost as though all that's private is goes unchallenged.
Here's some Mylegal coverage which went out before the Guardian's recent exposure. It tells you more about Atos and their broader range of contracts beyond those involving the DWP. However, as is always the case with these contracts ministerial departments remain somewhat tight lipped:
"Ministry of Justice stays tight-lipped over Atos Origin IT penalties"
"Information is not in the public interest, MoJ says"
Why all the secrecy?
Extracts from various articles on the internet reveal; "The Ministry of Justice has refused to publish information about any occasions when Atos Origin, its lead IT contractor, might have failed to meet service level agreements..."
"According to a recent Freedom of Information (FOI) response, the MoJ admitted that its contract with Atos contains a clause that allows the department to invoke service credits if certain levels are not met. However, it said that releasing information relating to Service Level Agreements was not in the public interest.
Atos’ £580 million contract with the MoJ began on 23 October 2006, and is due to expire on 22 October 2013. There is an option to extend the contract to p to 22 October 2016, and the value of the contract is subject to change as new projects are commissioned. Atos declined to comment on the issue". Read more about a Conservative MP's concern over the secrecy surrounding government's contracts with private providers in Computerworld UK 'the voice of IT management'.
[/i]
Atos has silently entered the world of justice.
But should they have such a foot in the door when it's their assessments which are causing
so much of the injustice?
Some of the silence may have broken with Atos gaining huge adverse media attention as a result of their questionable assessment of disabled & incapacitated benefit claimants but shouldn't we be looking at the bigger picture? Why are we not more vigorously questioning their close association with a justice department which is responsible for the administration of thousands of benefit appeals which claimants are wining with success rates of 80% when professionally helped by legal aid funded welfare benefit specialists? Let's not forget how legal aid is too all intents and purposes 'controlled' by the Ministry of Justice.
What many will not realise is the Ministry of Justice has not lot long passed legislation which will see all of this help disappear from April 2013, from then on firms like Atos will be almost unchallenged in Court as the disabled are further disabled from taking on battles against the decisions reached by them and the DWP. Atos may not be involved in the formal process of decision-making over a person's entitlement but it is very much the result of the assessment which dictates the decision reached by the DWP. It seems bizarre that the 'justice' department is disassociating itself from the professionals they fund under the legal aid scheme who are winning all the cases but forging closer links with the firm which is seen as predominantly causing all of the injustices. These these injustices are corrected by legal aid professionals who have to put them right by taking cases to Court, without them many people simply won't be able to have their say and will lose their right to effectively challenge an unacceptably high number of incorrect decisions. It's all too clear that as legal aid is being swept away Atos is bringing their 'expertise' to the front-line of the Justice department; here's what they say on the Atos website:
" Atos has worked with the Ministry of Justice (including the Prison Service), police forces, the Office for Criminal Justice Reform and other organisations in the continuing delivery of a joined-up Justice System for the UK."
"Our services help to achieve productivity, cost and performance objectives. We bring organisations together through IT-enabled collaboration to deliver fairer, faster and simpler routes to criminal, civil and family justice."
The Ministry of Justice has been heavily criticised for its lack of social responsibility towards the vulnerable and less well off. It's abundantly clear that we have a justice department which does nothing for the social good. Government's justice team has looked after its own in protecting well paid QC's like David Cameron's brother who frankly does rather well out of legal aid but what has it done for the less well off? How is it that the justice department has done nothing to safeguard people from the kind of social welfare injustice wreaked upon thousands of individuals at the mercy of corporate greeds like Atos?
You can see which way this justice department is headed with its controversial appointments. Amongst them is millionaire legal aid minister Jonathan Djanogly and his cosy close links with the insurance industry. One has to wonder in their aloofness from the real world whether individuals like Djanogly take the line that all people should simply insure themselves against all life 'events' (to use his terminology) such as illness, accidents, unemployment or for that matter disability. They seem oblivious to the fact that must of us consider ourselves already covered under what we once assumed was 'National Insurance'.
Perhaps the insurance link is one which Atos recognises because they appear to be right in there when it comes to building up their business hopes on the back of the very same industry, take a read of the Atos insurance brochure and you'll see how keen they are on promoting yet another of their numerous 'global' links. If you're in for exploration you may want to research the links which Atos appears to have forged with Unum, a major contender in the provision of private healthcare & income protection insurance policies.
Ministers like Djanogly only sees the world of justice from the narrowed perspective of a corporate lawyer, it's understandable given that he was once employed by major international law-firm SJ Berwin. I often wonder why he moved from what would have been a lucrative career into the world of politics; why on earth would he give it all up? Or did he make the move to bring corporate law further into Westminster? You can't help but wonder how much of a role these large law firms play with their close associations to politicians in power, whenever a big deal goes off in the procurement of yet another private contractor you can be certain that one of the same select high flying law firms will have had a say in what happens to the taxpayer's cash. You can explore some of the links which politicians in power have with a 'magic circle' full of wealthy law firms here on Mylegal.
Atos may have come in to the public limelight of late but in reality they have been contracting for public services for years. Medical assessments for the DWP were previously conducted by 'Sema Schlumberger' up until 2004 when Atos completed its €1.3bn (£888.7m) acquisition of Sema from Schlumberger and merged Sema’s UK operations with Atos KPMG Consulting. You can read more about the lmerger deals here & their links with all the top law firms which you'd expect to be involved in a deal which helped create Europe’s largest-listed IT services company; having a turnover of some €5bn (£3.42bn).
The current government is desperate for economic growth and will stop at nothing to secure it. Despite the current downturn Atos is seeing growth and a fair proportion of it is being achieved right here in Britain:
"In Public, Health & Transports, the most important signature came from Atos Worldline with the renewal of a large contract with the French government, and the United Kingdom was successful in signing contracts with the Ministry of Justice in Managed Services, and with DWP for Systems Integration projects".
Atos's presence in the global markets is colossal, it's figures for group business unit growth show an increase of 4.2% in the United Kingdom & Ireland with revenue increasing by 1,195 million euros when compared with 2010. You can read more about Atos's 2011 annual figures for 2011 here, they are holding up when everyone else struggles to remain standing. Atos are in to almost everything, as a leading IT services contender they are common denominator in almost all potential thriving businesses. You can see just a sample of them here on Mylegal.
However, it is their links to the Ministry of Justice which concern me. The contract the DWP hold with Atos for its controversial assessments is relatively small fry when compared with the more lucrative contracting of IT systems in various government departments including the Ministry of Justice. When it comes to IT Atos is nearly always on the scene as they were when say kitting out the MOJ's state of the art Roll's Building. Of course this is far from the only contract which Atos has with the Ministry as disclosed in Parliament in an answer to a question by Member of Parliament Tom Greatrex:
"Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) what the total monetary value is of each contract between his Department and Atos; (2) when each contract between his Department and Atos was most recently (a) agreed, (b) renewed and (c) extended." ?
Mr Kenneth Clarke: The Ministry of Justice has three contracts with ATOS and these are:
18 Jun 2012 : Column 673W
Have a read for yourself on Hansard by going to column 673 of the debate on the 18th June 2012. I'm slightly perplexed over the value of the 7 year contract being put at a shade over £1 billion pounds for the DISC contract, it works out at a round figure of approximately £142 million a year, still a fair sum but one which appears to me conflicting with reports which can be found elsewhere:
"Atos Origin and LogicaCMG win £500m government IT contracts"
The UK’s Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) has decided not to renew the contracts of its current IT suppliers but rather to replace them with two new contracts, estimated to be worth £500m, as part of its plans to create a single, common IT platform across the department.
The announcement follows the two-year competitive Development, Innovation and Support Contracts (DISC) procurement programme.
Together the contracts will be worth an anticipated £500m over a seven-year period. They will ensure both value for money to the taxpayer and support the continued modernisation of the DCA by playing a key role in delivering fewer and simpler systems that best meet customer needs.
They replace existing agreements, which expire during 2007 and 2008, with EDS for crown and county courts' IT systems; Liberata for accounting, financial, HR/payroll and management information services; Accenture, Fujitsu and STL on the Libra programme; and Cable & Wireless for web hosting.
The new infrastructure contract has been awarded to Atos Origin and will provide a number of benefits including the roll-out of a unified IT infrastructure across the whole Department allowing for more effective and efficient communication and improved service levels.
The contract, worth an estimated £350 million, will make Atos Origin responsible for 28,000 desktops across over 700 locations, offering a common office environment and access to all DCA applications. Atos Origin will also provide a single point of contact for support across all services delivered over the infrastructure. "
This was how it was reported back in September 2006 by Consultant News with regard to the introduction of contracts for Atos & Logica. When I say conflicting I refer to how the awards of contracts for Atos & Logica were intended to replace other IT providers in around 2007. A look at their annual accounts for 2011 shows that between May 2010 and September 2010 some £43.2 million was paid to Atos, £14.5 million to Logica at the same time that payments of £18.8 million were still being paid to other IT providers such as HP Enterprises with a further £5.3 million being paid to Fujitsu during the same period. If the contracting concept was to 'platform' all payments why are there still 'parallel' payments to different providers?
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What we appear to have between the Ministry of Justice and Atos is an abundance of cash which flows from one to the other. It doesn't seem evident that Atos have provided a means of merging payments if during a five month period over £24 million pounds was still being paid to HP & Fujitsu whilst still paying Atos and this isn't including other payments which were still being paid out to Cable & Wireless during the same period under separate invoices; so where's the saving?
Or perhaps more to the point over and above these questionable savings what about the real question: is all this focus on granting global enterprises endangering Justice?
Is the MOJ too focussed on going global?
And neglecting to throw UK justice a life-buoy?
There is always bound to be a danger in mixing business with justice. Government through its ministerial departments is pinning all its hopes for economic growth on the private sector. By private sector you have to think in 'global' terms because that's where this government sees the UK in forging more lucrative foreign trading links which won't be achieved with smaller more domestic UK based firms. We have a justice department which appears to be doing more deals in the offices of large corporate magic circle law firms than it is in what should be the more open glare of open public office. Every single deal is veiled in secrecy, guardedly cloaked against public scrutiny under the guise of secretive 'competitive market' laws, in essence we have no idea how the tax payer's cash is being spent. The current government slated the previous administration for wasting billions of pounds on PFI contracts but what is it doing that is any different?
Atos's links with the Ministry of Justice are only part of the picture, they are consulting on our railway infrastructure, occupationally health assessing thousands of employees of government departments & private enterprise, providing an IT infrastructure in our hospitals, in education, in our links with European rail networks, in our energy infrastructure, in the defence of our nation, in capturing pharmaceutical data, and even in crime detection. Atos even has a link as a technology partner to the BBC.
Atos is global in every sense of the word and its French connection is likely to be of particular interest when it comes to providing the UK with an easy trading partner in Europe. I can't see how government can associate with such a major commercial entity without endangering justice if it allows the Ministry of Justice to enter into contract with the very same firm which thousands of people are indirectly (via the DWP) in dispute with. You can't get away from the fact that the Ministry of Justice has responsibility for what's at issue here; justice for the victims of unfair assessments reached by Atos.
What we have is an absurd situation where it is the private sector bloating the cost of delivering public services to such a degree that we can no longer benefit from them. It is Atos which is causative of the injustices experienced by thousands and yet the Ministry of Justice give them billions and takes away a fraction of the amount needed to enable claimants to hold them to account in the provision of legal aid for their disputes; it's grossly unfair.
Justice?
Few of us in the world of social justice will have failed to have heard about the recent wave of notoriety Atos have earned when it comes to assessing thousands of disabled people as fit for work. It's best summed up by their own Public Relations consultant:
"Its not good for Atos, " says PR consultant Mark Borkowski. "If people were not aware of Atos, they certainly are now. It is a brand under terrible pressure."
You're dead right there Mr Borkowski and I'm sure it's a sentiment our chancellor or the exchequer may well be sharing as he 'recovers' from the humiliation at getting 'booed' by thousands of spectators at the Atos sponsored Paralympic games on the 3rd September. The reason they booed Osborne is purely and simply over the injustice towards disabled people presided over by his government.
The Ministry of Justice is complicit in the removal of access to justice because as it moves heaven on earth to ensure Atos get paid to deliver growth, it matters not that thousands of disabled people won't get paid in recognition of their disability because it's Atos who are saying they are fit for work.
With all the growth & profit which Atos are reaping out of their lucrative contracts with government, I'd call it a bit more than coincidence that its Atos who are finding all these people fit for work wouldn't you?
[/size]
DJ on MOJ/ATOS
www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmhansrd/cm120703/debtext/120703-0001.htm
But what about its links with the Ministry of Justice?...
The Guardian has revealed French firm Atos has more than 3 billion pounds worth of government contracts. In this article we take a look at Atos and their links with the Ministry of Justice and government in general. The question this poses; is justice compromised by Atos having such a predominant commercial interest in government?
Here's what the Guardian say: "Controversial Paralympic sponsor has won work across Whitehall as well as running work capability assessments"
"Ministers have outsourced more than £3bn of public services to Atos, the multinational IT firm whose sponsorship of the Paralympics has prompted a nationwide campaign by disability activists."
"A series of parliamentary questions from Labour MP Tom Greatrex reveals the value of contracts with Atos is now more than a third higher than the amount outsourced by the last government. The replies expose how far the reach of the company extends in Whitehall.
The revelations come as the company, which conducts controversial medical assessments for benefit claims on behalf of the government, reaps the benefits of its association with the Olympic and Paralympic movement. City analysts estimate that Atos's work for the London Olympic and Paralympic Games is worth £200m in revenues. They say its sponsorship of the events helps showcase "its technology and project management capabilities".
On Wednesday disabled protesters will deliver a coffin filled with 85 pages of complaints from people and their families who have been told they have to get a job despite suffering from serious impairments. They point out that 1,100 people died last year after failing the test for the new incapacity benefit". Read more in the Guardian. [/i]
At the hub of the Atos uproar is the
Work Capability Assessment
Thousands of disabled claimants are being wrongly assessed....
At the very hub of the rising concern over Atos is the infamous 'Work Capability Assessment' , the assessment is angering thousands of disabled and incapacitated people because it is carried out by healthcare professionals employed by Atos who utilise a computer software system to assess people's fitness for work. Many are saying that the Atos healthcare professionals are simply spending too much time ticking boxes as they use assess benefit claimants with the aid of their 'Lima Logic system' which awards points for limitations experienced the claimants being assessed. If the claimant is awarded 15 points or more the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) confirms an award of 'Employment & Support Allowance'. An award of the allowance is meant to trigger a package of support to help claimants with health problems find work through the Government's flagship 'Work Programme'. In reality the assessment is leading to a huge reduction in awards for the support allowance and has been widely criticised by many.
The problem is that the government and its ministerial departments are reliant on having to outsource public money contracts to firms like Atos because they see them as the means of bringing about an economic recovery. It is only these large firms which can afford to contract with the State using a new range of contracts which include those 'paid upon results'. The DWP's contract with Atos is not specifically a 'payment by result' (PBR) contract, but be under no illusion the emphasis is still very much on achieving the right results.
With government's reliance on the major movers and shakers in public contracting you have to wonder how much these large firms are calling the shots. Government has put all its eggs in one almighty global basket which they justify because by and large they are locked in to a number of 'buy now pay later' arrangements. The problem with these arrangements is they are all geared to collecting the cash once the results have been delivered, it's all very well if the results are genuinely achieved and the longer-term payment structure financially viable. But can we really attach this 'results based' philosophy to a judicial system which is meant to deliver justice?
I think we do need to take a long hard look at this Atos alliance. Atos and government are joined at the hip in their commitment to deliver economic growth so are they really going to let something like justice get in the way? It becomes even more questionable when justice starts to concern thousands of benefit claimants who government undoubtedly sees as being overly reliant on the State.
There seems little doubt that the justice department is being tasked with delivering economic growth over an above justice particularly when it concerns those who are already poor, government is making it all too clear that benefit claimants are seen as a burden rather than a responsibility; by comparison you have to examine how government looks upon firms such as Atos with its apparent trust in all that they do and say, it's almost as though all that's private is goes unchallenged.
Here's some Mylegal coverage which went out before the Guardian's recent exposure. It tells you more about Atos and their broader range of contracts beyond those involving the DWP. However, as is always the case with these contracts ministerial departments remain somewhat tight lipped:
"Ministry of Justice stays tight-lipped over Atos Origin IT penalties"
"Information is not in the public interest, MoJ says"
Why all the secrecy?
Extracts from various articles on the internet reveal; "The Ministry of Justice has refused to publish information about any occasions when Atos Origin, its lead IT contractor, might have failed to meet service level agreements..."
"According to a recent Freedom of Information (FOI) response, the MoJ admitted that its contract with Atos contains a clause that allows the department to invoke service credits if certain levels are not met. However, it said that releasing information relating to Service Level Agreements was not in the public interest.
Atos’ £580 million contract with the MoJ began on 23 October 2006, and is due to expire on 22 October 2013. There is an option to extend the contract to p to 22 October 2016, and the value of the contract is subject to change as new projects are commissioned. Atos declined to comment on the issue". Read more about a Conservative MP's concern over the secrecy surrounding government's contracts with private providers in Computerworld UK 'the voice of IT management'.
[/i]
Atos has silently entered the world of justice.
But should they have such a foot in the door when it's their assessments which are causing
so much of the injustice?
Some of the silence may have broken with Atos gaining huge adverse media attention as a result of their questionable assessment of disabled & incapacitated benefit claimants but shouldn't we be looking at the bigger picture? Why are we not more vigorously questioning their close association with a justice department which is responsible for the administration of thousands of benefit appeals which claimants are wining with success rates of 80% when professionally helped by legal aid funded welfare benefit specialists? Let's not forget how legal aid is too all intents and purposes 'controlled' by the Ministry of Justice.
What many will not realise is the Ministry of Justice has not lot long passed legislation which will see all of this help disappear from April 2013, from then on firms like Atos will be almost unchallenged in Court as the disabled are further disabled from taking on battles against the decisions reached by them and the DWP. Atos may not be involved in the formal process of decision-making over a person's entitlement but it is very much the result of the assessment which dictates the decision reached by the DWP. It seems bizarre that the 'justice' department is disassociating itself from the professionals they fund under the legal aid scheme who are winning all the cases but forging closer links with the firm which is seen as predominantly causing all of the injustices. These these injustices are corrected by legal aid professionals who have to put them right by taking cases to Court, without them many people simply won't be able to have their say and will lose their right to effectively challenge an unacceptably high number of incorrect decisions. It's all too clear that as legal aid is being swept away Atos is bringing their 'expertise' to the front-line of the Justice department; here's what they say on the Atos website:
" Atos has worked with the Ministry of Justice (including the Prison Service), police forces, the Office for Criminal Justice Reform and other organisations in the continuing delivery of a joined-up Justice System for the UK."
"Our services help to achieve productivity, cost and performance objectives. We bring organisations together through IT-enabled collaboration to deliver fairer, faster and simpler routes to criminal, civil and family justice."
The Ministry of Justice has been heavily criticised for its lack of social responsibility towards the vulnerable and less well off. It's abundantly clear that we have a justice department which does nothing for the social good. Government's justice team has looked after its own in protecting well paid QC's like David Cameron's brother who frankly does rather well out of legal aid but what has it done for the less well off? How is it that the justice department has done nothing to safeguard people from the kind of social welfare injustice wreaked upon thousands of individuals at the mercy of corporate greeds like Atos?
You can see which way this justice department is headed with its controversial appointments. Amongst them is millionaire legal aid minister Jonathan Djanogly and his cosy close links with the insurance industry. One has to wonder in their aloofness from the real world whether individuals like Djanogly take the line that all people should simply insure themselves against all life 'events' (to use his terminology) such as illness, accidents, unemployment or for that matter disability. They seem oblivious to the fact that must of us consider ourselves already covered under what we once assumed was 'National Insurance'.
Perhaps the insurance link is one which Atos recognises because they appear to be right in there when it comes to building up their business hopes on the back of the very same industry, take a read of the Atos insurance brochure and you'll see how keen they are on promoting yet another of their numerous 'global' links. If you're in for exploration you may want to research the links which Atos appears to have forged with Unum, a major contender in the provision of private healthcare & income protection insurance policies.
Ministers like Djanogly only sees the world of justice from the narrowed perspective of a corporate lawyer, it's understandable given that he was once employed by major international law-firm SJ Berwin. I often wonder why he moved from what would have been a lucrative career into the world of politics; why on earth would he give it all up? Or did he make the move to bring corporate law further into Westminster? You can't help but wonder how much of a role these large law firms play with their close associations to politicians in power, whenever a big deal goes off in the procurement of yet another private contractor you can be certain that one of the same select high flying law firms will have had a say in what happens to the taxpayer's cash. You can explore some of the links which politicians in power have with a 'magic circle' full of wealthy law firms here on Mylegal.
Atos may have come in to the public limelight of late but in reality they have been contracting for public services for years. Medical assessments for the DWP were previously conducted by 'Sema Schlumberger' up until 2004 when Atos completed its €1.3bn (£888.7m) acquisition of Sema from Schlumberger and merged Sema’s UK operations with Atos KPMG Consulting. You can read more about the lmerger deals here & their links with all the top law firms which you'd expect to be involved in a deal which helped create Europe’s largest-listed IT services company; having a turnover of some €5bn (£3.42bn).
The current government is desperate for economic growth and will stop at nothing to secure it. Despite the current downturn Atos is seeing growth and a fair proportion of it is being achieved right here in Britain:
"In Public, Health & Transports, the most important signature came from Atos Worldline with the renewal of a large contract with the French government, and the United Kingdom was successful in signing contracts with the Ministry of Justice in Managed Services, and with DWP for Systems Integration projects".
Atos's presence in the global markets is colossal, it's figures for group business unit growth show an increase of 4.2% in the United Kingdom & Ireland with revenue increasing by 1,195 million euros when compared with 2010. You can read more about Atos's 2011 annual figures for 2011 here, they are holding up when everyone else struggles to remain standing. Atos are in to almost everything, as a leading IT services contender they are common denominator in almost all potential thriving businesses. You can see just a sample of them here on Mylegal.
However, it is their links to the Ministry of Justice which concern me. The contract the DWP hold with Atos for its controversial assessments is relatively small fry when compared with the more lucrative contracting of IT systems in various government departments including the Ministry of Justice. When it comes to IT Atos is nearly always on the scene as they were when say kitting out the MOJ's state of the art Roll's Building. Of course this is far from the only contract which Atos has with the Ministry as disclosed in Parliament in an answer to a question by Member of Parliament Tom Greatrex:
"Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) what the total monetary value is of each contract between his Department and Atos; (2) when each contract between his Department and Atos was most recently (a) agreed, (b) renewed and (c) extended." ?
Mr Kenneth Clarke: The Ministry of Justice has three contracts with ATOS and these are:
|
18 Jun 2012 : Column 673W
Have a read for yourself on Hansard by going to column 673 of the debate on the 18th June 2012. I'm slightly perplexed over the value of the 7 year contract being put at a shade over £1 billion pounds for the DISC contract, it works out at a round figure of approximately £142 million a year, still a fair sum but one which appears to me conflicting with reports which can be found elsewhere:
"Atos Origin and LogicaCMG win £500m government IT contracts"
The UK’s Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA) has decided not to renew the contracts of its current IT suppliers but rather to replace them with two new contracts, estimated to be worth £500m, as part of its plans to create a single, common IT platform across the department.
The announcement follows the two-year competitive Development, Innovation and Support Contracts (DISC) procurement programme.
Together the contracts will be worth an anticipated £500m over a seven-year period. They will ensure both value for money to the taxpayer and support the continued modernisation of the DCA by playing a key role in delivering fewer and simpler systems that best meet customer needs.
They replace existing agreements, which expire during 2007 and 2008, with EDS for crown and county courts' IT systems; Liberata for accounting, financial, HR/payroll and management information services; Accenture, Fujitsu and STL on the Libra programme; and Cable & Wireless for web hosting.
The new infrastructure contract has been awarded to Atos Origin and will provide a number of benefits including the roll-out of a unified IT infrastructure across the whole Department allowing for more effective and efficient communication and improved service levels.
The contract, worth an estimated £350 million, will make Atos Origin responsible for 28,000 desktops across over 700 locations, offering a common office environment and access to all DCA applications. Atos Origin will also provide a single point of contact for support across all services delivered over the infrastructure. "
This was how it was reported back in September 2006 by Consultant News with regard to the introduction of contracts for Atos & Logica. When I say conflicting I refer to how the awards of contracts for Atos & Logica were intended to replace other IT providers in around 2007. A look at their annual accounts for 2011 shows that between May 2010 and September 2010 some £43.2 million was paid to Atos, £14.5 million to Logica at the same time that payments of £18.8 million were still being paid to other IT providers such as HP Enterprises with a further £5.3 million being paid to Fujitsu during the same period. If the contracting concept was to 'platform' all payments why are there still 'parallel' payments to different providers?
MOJ payments May - September 2010
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What we appear to have between the Ministry of Justice and Atos is an abundance of cash which flows from one to the other. It doesn't seem evident that Atos have provided a means of merging payments if during a five month period over £24 million pounds was still being paid to HP & Fujitsu whilst still paying Atos and this isn't including other payments which were still being paid out to Cable & Wireless during the same period under separate invoices; so where's the saving?
Or perhaps more to the point over and above these questionable savings what about the real question: is all this focus on granting global enterprises endangering Justice?
Is the MOJ too focussed on going global?
And neglecting to throw UK justice a life-buoy?
There is always bound to be a danger in mixing business with justice. Government through its ministerial departments is pinning all its hopes for economic growth on the private sector. By private sector you have to think in 'global' terms because that's where this government sees the UK in forging more lucrative foreign trading links which won't be achieved with smaller more domestic UK based firms. We have a justice department which appears to be doing more deals in the offices of large corporate magic circle law firms than it is in what should be the more open glare of open public office. Every single deal is veiled in secrecy, guardedly cloaked against public scrutiny under the guise of secretive 'competitive market' laws, in essence we have no idea how the tax payer's cash is being spent. The current government slated the previous administration for wasting billions of pounds on PFI contracts but what is it doing that is any different?
Atos's links with the Ministry of Justice are only part of the picture, they are consulting on our railway infrastructure, occupationally health assessing thousands of employees of government departments & private enterprise, providing an IT infrastructure in our hospitals, in education, in our links with European rail networks, in our energy infrastructure, in the defence of our nation, in capturing pharmaceutical data, and even in crime detection. Atos even has a link as a technology partner to the BBC.
Atos is global in every sense of the word and its French connection is likely to be of particular interest when it comes to providing the UK with an easy trading partner in Europe. I can't see how government can associate with such a major commercial entity without endangering justice if it allows the Ministry of Justice to enter into contract with the very same firm which thousands of people are indirectly (via the DWP) in dispute with. You can't get away from the fact that the Ministry of Justice has responsibility for what's at issue here; justice for the victims of unfair assessments reached by Atos.
What we have is an absurd situation where it is the private sector bloating the cost of delivering public services to such a degree that we can no longer benefit from them. It is Atos which is causative of the injustices experienced by thousands and yet the Ministry of Justice give them billions and takes away a fraction of the amount needed to enable claimants to hold them to account in the provision of legal aid for their disputes; it's grossly unfair.
Justice?
Few of us in the world of social justice will have failed to have heard about the recent wave of notoriety Atos have earned when it comes to assessing thousands of disabled people as fit for work. It's best summed up by their own Public Relations consultant:
"Its not good for Atos, " says PR consultant Mark Borkowski. "If people were not aware of Atos, they certainly are now. It is a brand under terrible pressure."
You're dead right there Mr Borkowski and I'm sure it's a sentiment our chancellor or the exchequer may well be sharing as he 'recovers' from the humiliation at getting 'booed' by thousands of spectators at the Atos sponsored Paralympic games on the 3rd September. The reason they booed Osborne is purely and simply over the injustice towards disabled people presided over by his government.
The Ministry of Justice is complicit in the removal of access to justice because as it moves heaven on earth to ensure Atos get paid to deliver growth, it matters not that thousands of disabled people won't get paid in recognition of their disability because it's Atos who are saying they are fit for work.
With all the growth & profit which Atos are reaping out of their lucrative contracts with government, I'd call it a bit more than coincidence that its Atos who are finding all these people fit for work wouldn't you?
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DJ on MOJ/ATOS
www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmhansrd/cm120703/debtext/120703-0001.htm
