14 There are wider lessons for all Departments from the problems that the Lord Chancellor's Department has experienced with the Libra project:
1 IT system changes should be planned to support redesigned business processes. Undertaking one without the other is unlikely to deliver value for money.
2 Standardising IT systems across a number of disparate bodies is only likely to be effective if the appropriate business processes of those bodies are also aligned.
3 To encourage suitable bids for a particular contract, departments should survey the market to establish the level of interest in the project and to assess whether their proposals are likely to be attractive to potential bidders.
4 Departments should take it as a warning sign that their proposed PFI projects may not be workable if few bidders show initial interest and others withdraw as the procurement process continues.
5 When a department unavoidably finds itself in a single tender situation, it should take special care to ensure that value for money is not at risk. Precautionary measures might, for example, include developing a "should cost" model to assess the reasonableness of a bid.
6 When seeking references on a potential contractor, departments should obtain an assessment of the contractor's performance elsewhere within government.
7 Where departments are renegotiating contracts, they should benchmark the price the contractor is offering.
8 Departments should have up-to-date contingency plans ready on all major contracts so that there is a fall-back position if and when a contract goes wrong.
The Lord Chancellor's Department has recognised these lessons over the life of the project and has taken action on them.