Procurement Stage

Implementation Stage
Pathway told the National Audit Office that neither of these risk registers were shared or discussed formally with them

Risk
Number

Risk
Description

Sept 1995 Purchasers' Risk Assessment of Pathway's Proposal

Sept 1995 Pathway's own Risk Register

March 1996 Purchasers' assessment of Pathway tender

April 1997 assessment by purchasers' delivery team

April 1998 review by purchasers' delivery team

Probability

Impact

Probability

Impact

Risk Status

Probability

Impact

Probability

Impact

1

Pathway's solution is dependent on sole source third party software (from Escher Riposte)

Outstanding

2

Supplier does not fully understand POCL Accounting Requirements, leading to software risks

Cleared

3

Design deficiencies in the supplier's system architecture

Outstanding

4

Post Office and Department security requirements not fully addressed by supplier's system design

Cleared

5

POCL requirements for simple (rural) post offices not fully addressed by supplier's system design

N/A

Cleared

6

Proposed solution dependent on bespoke software development

Cleared

7

Requirements for payment to permanent agents and proxies are not addressed by supplier's design

Cleared

8

Automated transactions will take longer and be less reliable than current manual process

Cleared

9

Inadequate planning/plan not acceptable/plan out of date

Cleared

10

Supplier is proposing inadequate testing

Cleared

11

Pathway's lack of a track record

Outstanding

12

Inadequately specified requirements and system interfaces between Pathway's and the purchasers' systems.

Outstanding

13

Availability of the Department's CAPS and benefit systems for testing the Pathway solution.

Outstanding

14

Pathway design does not map onto the BA/POCL requirements

Outstanding

15

Inadequate project management methods, planning and risk management

Not identified

Source: Analysis by Admiral plc, for the National Audit Office, of project documentation.