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Former Post Office IT boss alleged to have misrepresented alternative to in-house build

Internal Post Office document reveals allegations that former transformation boss misrepresented off-the-shelf option to replace Horizon

Karl Flinders
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Published: 22 Oct 2024 10:08

The Post Office is investigating allegations that staff working on the New Branch IT (NBIT) project, including the transformation chief, misrepresented alternatives to building Horizon’s in-house replacement.

The current in-house NBIT software development project now looks set to be dumped and replaced by an off-the-shelf alternative.

An internal Post Office Ad Hoc board report, made public by Post Office scandal public inquiry, has revealed more details of the investigations known as Willow2 and Willow3.

Willow2 is looking into claims that tech teams working on the NBIT system misled the senior executives with information “presented in a skewed manner to prompt certain outcomes”. The investigation is also looking into allegations that the IT teams cut corners when testing.

There is more revealed in the latest document published by the Post Office scandal public inquiry, which dates back to August, with allegations made against Chris Brocklesby, who was chief transformation officer at the Post Office until earlier this month.

In an investigation known as Willow3, it is alleged that when briefing the Post Office board on alternatives to the in-house NBIT project, Brocklesby misrepresented a possible alternative offered by an Electronic Point of Sale software supplier Escher.

The allegation stated: “The true extent and completeness of the bid/offer by Escher to the Post Office was incorrectly discounted and suppressed as a viable alternative without broader consideration.

“Due to the significance of the allegations and the likely external scrutiny of any findings, for independence and the optics of independence, an external investigator will be engaged.”

According to the document, Brocklesby, who appeared in an inquiry hearing at the beginning of this month, was originally appointed as the senior executive providing oversight to the Willow2 investigation until “new information” made him a “material witness”.

As Computer Weekly recently revealed, the Post Office is currently reviewing its project to build the NBIT software in-house and opt for an off-the-shelf alternative, with Escher said to be the option that came out top during the bidding process, although it was rejected in favour of the in-house build option.

One source close to the project told Computer Weekly earlier this month that a decision has not been made yet, but it appears “the writing is on the wall” for the in-house NBIT software, which is expected to be dumped.

This followed evidence from recently installed Post Office chairman Nigel Railton gave at the Post Office scandal public inquiry. He said the company’s decision to build the new system in-house was one of two reasons the project was “set up to fail”.

A source close to the “build versus buy” discussions said there was a consensus within teams that building in-house is the best option for subpostmasters and the Post Office in the long term, adding: “The spiralling costs have been an issue, but that’s a Post Office culture problem that needs to change. If the culture doesn’t change, they’ll have the same issue going down the buy route.” The source also said the early stages of the project did see a number of quality issues, but these have now been resolved.

Computer Weekly revealed in May this year that a review by government project management experts at the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) rated the NBIT  project as “currently unachievable”, with budgets ballooning from £180m to £1.1bn, and implementation being delayed by as much as five years.

The Post Office scandal was first exposed by Computer Weekly in 2009, revealing the stories of seven subpostmasters and the problems they suffered due to Horizon accounting software, which led to the most widespread miscarriage of justice in British history (see below timeline of Computer Weekly articles about the scandal since 2009).

• Also read: What you need to know about the Horizon scandal •

• Also watch: ITV’s documentary – Mr Bates vs The Post Office: The real story •

• Also read: Post Office and Fujitsu malevolence and incompetence means huge taxpayers’ bill •

Timeline: Computer Weekly articles about the scandal since 2009

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