Recommendation 11

When we asked if decisions were being taken based on evidence, NS&I said that “there is always a chance that assumptions are incorrect”.26 The National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority had found that NS&I’s understanding of the alternative approaches had not been robust, and NS&I said its understanding had improved since the Programme started. However, it also sought to blame Atos’s financial difficulties, saying it had needed to spend time, energy and resources developing continuity plans instead of on the Programme.27 NS&I dismissed suggestions that it should have done more work at the start, saying “you can always do more analysis”, and appeared to blame suppliers for not bidding for Programme contracts.28 A good news culture can prevent lessons being learnt