12 The Agency and Capita began the development of the business processes and systems in a constructive way but the relationship came under stress as problems mounted. Matters were complicated by the lack of single operational ownership of the whole process. Capita believed that they were given inadequate opportunity for their operational experience to be brought to bear on decisions made by the Agency, particularly the late introduction of bulk paper forms. The Agency's view is that it did not have a sufficiently strong intelligent customer function and placed too much reliance on Capita to deliver the required functionality and performance.
13 The Agency put in place mechanisms to follow best practice, including the use of consultants to audit its procurement processes and manage implementation. It also undertook Gateway reviews.3 The Office of Government Commerce Gateway Review Team raised questions about the readiness of the Bureau to go live, but accepted that there was 'no turning back' and that on balance the operational service launch should go ahead in March 2002.
14 Immediately upon recognising the problems after go-live, the Agency and Capita put in place a Service Improvement Plan. Since June 2003 the Bureau has met published Service Standards in terms of turnaround times for Disclosures. Backlogs have been effectively eliminated. The turnaround in the Bureau's performance shows that the key to running a complex, greenfield operation with a private sector partner is to work together as a team to solve operational problems. The Service Improvement Plan began to yield results within six weeks and the situation was stabilised in six months.
15 An Independent Review Team appointed by the Home Secretary presented ten recommendations for improvement. These included rationalising the roles of Registered Bodies, the Agency, Capita and local police forces to increase efficiency, moving to mandate that all applications should be electronic, and making the Bureau a separate Executive Agency of the Home Office. In February 2003, the Home Secretary announced that the Government had accepted nine of the ten recommendations for potential implementation and would consult on the tenth (the routing of applications for Basic Disclosures4 through Registered Bodies) before coming to a final view. On December 22, 2003, contract renegotiation was concluded between the Bureau and Capita, putting the Bureau on a sounder footing.
________________________________________________________________________________
3 Formal independent reviews of major projects introduced by the Office of Government Commerce. These are conducted by independent assessors at key stages of procurement and implementation projects. A Gateway may now be applied at the start of high risk projects.
4 A Basic Disclosure comprises unspent convictions on the Police National Computer.