Letter to the Chairman of the Committee
from the Chief Executive of the Child Support Agency (CS 03)
When I came to speak to the Committee on 22
May I offered to provide further information in two main areas.
The first of these concerned the structure of
our contract with EDS with particular reference to potential penalties
for late delivery. You will appreciate, and Vince Gaskell made
the point at the committee hearing, that this is commercially
sensitive and information is therefore confidential. I attach
as Annex A a note drafted by Vince Gaskell providing the background
information required.
The annex gives a summary of the main provisions
within the contractual framework with EDS. However the key questions
the Committee were seeking answers to in relation to the contract
and the recent delays to the completion of testing were:
— whether there is provision within
the contract to pay additional sums to EDS arising out of increased
costs to them if the delay is their fault;
— whether there is provision within
the contract to seek to recover, from EDS, any increased costs
incurred by the Department as a result of the delay if it is entirely
the fault of EDS.
If the cause of delay is entirely due to EDS
there is provision for the Department to seek to recover its estimated
increased costs (liquidated damages). There is no provision for
EDS to seek to recover their increased costs directly attributable
to the delay, if the delay is entirely their fault.
The second area concerned delays in our enforcement
process. A note is attached as Annex B.
I hope this is helpful.
Doug Smith
June 2002
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