[Gllug] Open Source lobbying meeting - UKUUG London Thurs 19th

[John G Walker]

On Sun, 15 Oct 2006 02:33:31 +0100 Christopher Hunter
<chrisehunter at blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:

> On Sunday 15 Oct 2006 00:15, Jack Bertram wrote:
> 
> > Without wishing to get into an argument (I have no facts, beyond
> > some knowledge of government tendering processes), it's just not
> > possible to assert that "no government contracts are untainted".
> > While you've qualified it this time by saying you couldn't find
> > any, rather than that there were none, how many have you
> > investigated?  What proportion does that make of all contracts?  If
> > you've got good evidence, why haven't you presented it to a court
> > of law?
> >
> > Perhaps I'm naive.
> 
> I'm not getting into an argument, but the research by myself (and
> others) was extremely extensive.  In every instance examined, there
> were inducements, surreptitious "side deals" and other nefarious
> methods.  

This is normal in business. A certain mainframe computer manufacturer
got a very lucrative contract to provide an email system to a major
multinational, against the wishes of it's IT department, during the
1980s, simply by taking the main board out to dinner and suchlike. 

I believe you, Christopher. I've sen a lot of this stuff.

But what I still find puzzling is your implication that this only
happens with Government, when twenty years ago it was rife in private
industry too. In other words, supposedly publicly accountable officials
do it, but those who don't have to be publicly accountable are pure as
the driven snow.

I just don't buy this part of the story, especially since, these days,
they tend to be the same people anyway, with former civil servants
starting up in business to run outsourcing firms and businessmen being
co-opted into advisory positions in the higher echelons of the civil
service,

-- 
 All the best,
 John
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