$TT 77 Million For Motor Vehicle Software

November 27, 2009 by Taran Rampersad

According to this story, the Government of Trinidad and Tobago is purchasing software from Nova Scotia that hasn't actually worked in Nova Scotia yet:

...The $12.9-million system at Nova Scotia’s registry has not worked as intended since it was introduced in April 2008.

"The problems we’re having in Nova Scotia is in how the software is working with our system, and we have a dedicated team that is working intensely on resolving the problem," Ms. Jennex said...

That equates to $77,461,283 TT dollars for software that is not working in Nova Scotia.

So - problem one is that the software isn't working where it is being purchased from. Problem two is that the Government of Trinidad and Tobago is investing in foreign software when we have the intellectual capital in Trinidad and Tobago to handle such a project.

Other interesting parts of the article include the fact that the Barrington Consulting Groupwas hired to improve Trinidad and Tobago's motor vehicle registry. I'm not sure that there was a tender for that, but I suspect if there was it wasn't very open. I write that because - honestly - the system for handling motor vehicle registry, while more complicated than other software, is not so difficult that a few enterprising University of the West Indies students couldn't handle it.

Who is the Barrington Group? It's hard to say from their site, but LinkedIn has 40 results for the company.

My Thoughts

As a senior software developer and ICT consultant with 21 years of varied experience in multiple fields, I view this as a slap to the face of the governments own attempt to grow a local Silicon Valley, as I wrote about here.

The government could well respond that there isn't enough local experience to handle such a project. Unfortunately for them, it doesn't seem that the software has functioned properly within a system yet - dismissing that aspect. And such decisions also assure that Trinidad and Tobago's ICT sector doesn't get to flex its muscles - to grow them.

One has to wonder how many other projects are being outsourced by one hand of the government while the other hand is trying to build a local ICT industry. Clearly government actions are not governed by a central vision.

Technically Speaking...

All that is required is a relational database centered application that is tailored to the task. The problems noted in the article are real world problems with integrating any system into an existing system. The software itself is not very difficult - getting it to work within the system is. Depending on how flexible (how much change will be permitted to the existing system) the existing system is - the one Trinbagonians see now - it can be easy or very difficult to implement.

The hidden problem is also getting all the information from Ye Olde Log Books into the computer.  Trinidad and Tobago doesn't exactly have a great track record when it comes to technology and motor vehicle registry; if you look hard when you visit any branch you may see antique systems laying around to keep furniture from floating away.

In the end, the people of Trinidad and Tobago will be paying a minimum of $TT 77 million for something that hasn't worked in a more mature system in Nova Scotia... to a foreign company... with no regard for the fact that Trinidad and Tobago's very own up and coming ICT people could have done it locally.

Hat tip to Raul Bermudez ,who posted the original story to the Computing email list of Trinidad and Tobago.

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