FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT $1$

Read the case study below and answer ALL of the questions that follow

Stakeholders sabotage project for regional $999$ call centers

FireControl was the name for a project to replace all the UK's local $999$ call centers with nine

regional centers.

Of the roughly $1,500$ people who work in the $46$ call centers spread around the UK$,$ about $350$ are on duty

at any one time. We all hope not to need to dial $999$ but if you do$,$ you will get through to one of these $350$

people any time, day or night.

This project had been dreamed up in central government and, with remarkable prioritisation, the nine

buildings were quickly designed and building contracts placed. In addition, in March $2007,$ then Fire and

Rescue service minister Angela Smith, award an eight$-$year $200m$ contract to supply the IT infrastructure

for the new regional control centers. The whole thing was expected to lead to a $30\%$ cut in staff.

Could it be that some politicians were keen to have their photos taken in front of the sparkling new

buildings?

Let's consider the Stakeholders in this initiative. Right at the top of any stakeholder list would be

management and staff of the $46$ call centers. Right?

And which organization represents these key Stakeholders? Step forward the Fire Brigades Union, the

FBU, which represents firefighting personnel and control staff at all levels within the fire and rescue service

across the UK including the $1,500$ people who work in the call centers.

So$,$ it was a bit of a worry when the FBU got to hear about the project and threw their hands in the air in

horror. The FBU launched a campaign against the regionalisation of emergency fire control rooms.

The union stated that the 'project had virtually no acceptance amongst the workforce'. Members of the fire

brigades union had 'grave concerns about the diversion of money to the project, and questioned the

feasibility of having $30\%$ fewer control staff available to answer emergency calls across the country during

spate conditions'.

There were fears that the regional $999$ system would 'become swamped with calls and come to a complete

standstill, and the loss of local knowledge amongst call takers was considered a significant risk'.

Therefore, this key stakeholder group was no supporter of the project but was actively engaged in trying to

stop it$.$ They became what some stakeholder management people call mutineers.

In the face of such feedback from such a significant stakeholder group, the project had to be abandoned.

The Department for Communities and Local Government cancelled the whole project in December $2010$

after concluding that $\text{'}$it could not be delivered to an acceptable timeframe'. At the point the decision was

made, the Department estimated it had spent $245$ million on the project and calculated that completion

would take the total cost of the project to $635$ million, more than five times the original estimate of $120$

million.

$\text{'}$It could not be delivered to an acceptable timeframe' is political speak for $\text{'}$we make a total cock up$\text{'}.$

But by this stage both the building work and the software development was well under way.

The software contract was cancelled, at a price. The building projects were left to run to completion on the

basis that some use would be found for these delightful new buildings.

For example, the $23$ million Regional Control Center in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire sat empty for four years

costing $160,000$ per month to keep clean and secure until it was eventually sold off in $2012.$

All nine buildings lay empty for some time. One of the nine buildings is now used for the public good. The

building at Fareham, Hampshire, today houses a part of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency $($MCA$).$

Years later, others have been sold or put to use in other ways. In total, the NAO estimated that $469m$ had

been stuffed down the toilet for this calamity.

If the project management team had met with, consulted and listened to the key Stakeholders before

placing contracts for software and construction, $99\%$ of this money would have been saved. Still, some

politicians probably did get their photos taken smiling on the construction project worksites.

Given the stakeholders outlined and the outcome of the project being cancelled, develop a project

communications plan using the following headings of Purpose, Structures, Methods and Timing whereby

you outline preferred actions that could result in the favourable outcome of the project.