The cost of Government websites never ceases to astound me. In a written answer yesterday, Pat McFadden at the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform informed the house that the departments website costs over a million pounds a year to maintain.
The Rhythmyx content management system (CMS). The CMS is used by staff across the Department and cost £1,029,474.83 in 2007-08. The forecast cost for 2008-9 is £1,180,000.There is no way the software they use can cost that much a year unless it has a really vicious licensing model so God knows what it goes on.
Provision and maintenance of the site's search engine facility by a third-party supplier, Open Objects. In 2007-08 this cost £15,784.2. The forecast cost for 2008-9 is £25,000.
6 comments:
The licensing cost of Rhythmyx is [a]round $150,000.
It 'goes on' Mandy's Mates (probably in every sense).
Simple really Dizzy - simple shopper.
They're all just stupid.
Verification: cancl - how appropriate
It's the Welsh translation fees that make it so expensive, it's all done at the European Parliament by a fluent Welsh speaking Latvian.
I've worked in the public sector on big digital projects and I can well believe these costs. Govt is legally obliged to procure through OJEU, and the suppliers screw you on costs. It's really annoying.
Maintenance licencing is lower than that. Our firm (about 4000 employees) was paying £25K per year maintenance for our Rhythmyx based intranet.
Who on earth are their auditors? Blagging a few grand extra could be missed but over a million quid extra?
Post a Comment