Excessive due diligence cost of student lifecycle project

James Watson made this Freedom of Information request to University of Glasgow

University of Glasgow did not have the information requested.

From: James Watson

25 January 2010

Dear University of Glasgow,

I have been trying to comprehend why the University of Glasgow has
paid £293,000 to the supplier of its new Student Information System
for due diligence.
I have asked a large number of UK Universities for details of the
cost of their due diligence for procuring a student information
system and whether any supplier was paid for this.

From the replies that I have received (which you can find on this
site) the largest amount spent on due diligence was by Oxford
University, £24,000. From the correspondence I have found that no
university has ever paid the supplier of its student information
system for due diligence.

I therefore wish to request that you send me the case justifying
the employment of the student information system supplier for the
due diligence. I am particularly interested to know the rationale
for paying the supplier such a huge sum of money for this task.
After all, due diligence is about assessing the ability of the
supplier to deliver. I am keen to learn why the University of
Glasgow has paid the supplier to assess its own ability to deliver?

Yours faithfully,

James Watson

Link to this

From: FOI Office
University of Glasgow

26 January 2010

Attachment ACKNOWLEDGEMENT F0084448.pdf
28K Download View as HTML

Dear Mr Watson,

Further to your Freedom of Information request dated 25 January 2010
timed 19:51 hours. Please find letter of acknowledgement attached.

You will find that the University's acknowledgement of your information
request is in PDF (Portable Document Format) file(s) attached to this
email.

The PDF file format is used for electronic distribution because it
preserves the look and feel of the original document complete with
fonts, colours, images, and layout. To open a PDF file you can download
a free program called Acrobat Reader and install it onto your computer
by clicking on to the following URL:

http://www.adobe.co.uk/products/acrobat/...

Yours sincerely,

Data Protection and Freedom of Information Office

Direct Line: +44 (0)141 330 2523
Fax: 0141 330 4920

Gilbert Scott Building
University of Glasgow
University Avenue
Glasgow G12 8QQ

The University of Glasgow, charity number SC004401

Link to this

From: FOI Office
University of Glasgow

22 February 2010

Attachment Response F0084448.pdf
32K Download View as HTML

Dear Mr Watson,

Please find attached the University's response to your Freedom of
Information (Scotland) Act 2002 request dated 25 January 2010 timed
19:51 hours.

You will find that the University's response to your information request
is in PDF (Portable Document Format) file(s) attached to this email.

The PDF file format is used for electronic distribution because it
preserves the look and feel of the original document complete with
fonts, colours, images, and layout. To open a PDF file you can download
a free program called Acrobat Reader and install it onto your computer
by clicking on to the following URL:

http://www.adobe.co.uk/products/acrobat/...

Yours sincerely,

Data Protection and Freedom of Information Office

Direct Line: +44 (0)141 330 2523
Fax: 0141 330 4920

Gilbert Scott Building
University of Glasgow
University Avenue
Glasgow G12 8QQ

The University of Glasgow, charity number SC004401

Link to this

Robert Clark left an annotation (20 August 2010)

You certainly were on to something when in one of our previous FoI requests you said "University of Glasgow has taken an Unusual Step by paying £286,794 to the supplier for the Student Lifecycle project to assist the University in due diligence ...".

The supplier has abandoned the University without completing the project and probably will be paid millions for a job not done.

The incompetence of those responsible for this project seems to have no limit.

Link to this

Things to do with this request

Anyone:
University of Glasgow only: