Marcus Vaudin on the £42 Million IT Disaster

“Forty-two million pounds. Gone. Vanished into consultants’ invoices, failed systems, and bureaucratic fog. That’s not ‘ineffective governance’. That’s negligence dressed up in polite language.”

💬 Marcus’s Full Statement

“This isn’t an IT failure. It’s a democracy failure. Forty-two million pounds could have funded new housing, mental health services, ferry subsidies, or proper data security. Instead, it bought us broken software and another excuse from the same revolving door of managers and deputies.

The States has turned digital transformation into a vanity project factory — no oversight, no transparency, and no consequence. When government wastes that kind of public money, someone should be handing in keys, not press releases.”

⚙️ On the Culture of Mismanagement

“Let’s be honest — this didn’t happen overnight. Guernsey has built an entire culture of ‘consultocracy’: endless reviews, glossy roadmaps, and zero delivery. Every major project becomes a job creation scheme for outside consultants and internal committees.

We have civil servants writing business cases to fix the mess created by previous business cases. It’s Kafka with spreadsheets.”

⚖️ On Accountability

“Gavin St Pier says accountability will be a ‘core focus’. I’ll believe that when we see resignations and published audit trails.

Until those responsible — political and administrative — are named, questioned, and, if necessary, prosecuted for waste or misrepresentation, it’s just another round of sorry-but-we-move-on.”

🔧 Marcus’s Reform Demands

1. Public Audit Portal – All States contracts, procurement details, and consultant payments published in real time.

2. Independent Technology Oversight Board – Elected experts and citizens, not just civil servants, to approve and monitor digital projects.

3. Personal Accountability Clauses – Any senior official signing off an IT project over £1 million must co-sign a personal performance declaration, so failure has consequences.

4. End the Consultant Carousel – Cap external consultancy fees and require all future systems to be open-source and locally maintained where possible.

🧭 Final Word

“The public are told to tighten belts while government casually burns millions. If a small business lost that kind of money, its directors would be in court.

Stop calling it ‘legacy issues’. Call it what it is — institutional waste. And until someone is held accountable, I won’t believe a single promise about ‘learning lessons’.”

— Marcus Vaudin
Deputy, States of Deliberation
#RadicalGuernsey #AccountabilityNow

Latest Press Report

Vaudin Condemns £42m IT Failures as “Negligence in Plain Sight”

A senior deputy has launched a blistering attack on government oversight after it was revealed that more than £42 million has been wasted on two major IT projects that failed to deliver.

The projects — a £24m overhaul of Revenue Service systems and an £18m customer-service platform known as MyGov — were described earlier this week as an “unconscionable waste of public money” by senior officials, who admitted that both systems were either unfinished, unfit for purpose, or had produced no tangible improvements.

Deputy Marcus Vaudin said the revelations were “evidence of a deep-rooted culture of mismanagement inside government.”

“Forty-two million pounds. Gone. Burned through while taxpayers were told to be patient. This isn’t an ‘IT difficulty’ or a ‘technical challenge’ — it is negligence in plain sight,” he said.

Vaudin argued that the problems went far beyond flawed software.

“This is what happens when project governance is a revolving door of committees, consultants, and box-ticking exercises. No transparency. No delivery. No consequences.”

He also criticised the pattern of senior leadership distancing themselves from responsibility, following statements that blamed unclear past oversight and inherited problems.

“The moment something collapses, we’re told it was someone else’s mess. How convenient. The public deserves to know who signed what, who approved what, and who looked the other way while millions disappeared.”

The deputy called for a fully public audit trail, including the publication of all procurement documents, contracts, consultant payments, and project performance reports linked to the failed systems.

He also demanded the creation of an independent technology oversight panel with the authority to halt projects that drift beyond budget or fail to show measurable progress.

“If a business lost £42 million, its directors would be answering questions under oath,” he added.
“Government shouldn’t get a softer landing than the people it serves.”

Officials have warned that further investigations may uncover additional failures in other large-scale projects.

Public Statement from Deputy Marcus Vaudin

Subject: Failed IT Projects and the Loss of £42 Million in Public Funds

“Forty-two million pounds of public money has been lost to failed IT projects. This is not an administrative hiccup — it is a profound breach of public trust.

The scale of this waste raises serious questions about how major projects have been approved, monitored, and repeatedly allowed to drift without intervention. The public deserves full transparency, not vague reassurances.

I am calling for the immediate publication of all procurement documents, contracts, and decision-making records linked to these projects. Those responsible for signing off on systems that were unfit, unfinished, or undelivered must be held accountable.

Frontline staff are not to blame. This failure sits squarely with senior leadership and political oversight that did not meet the standard the public expects.

Guernsey cannot afford another £42 million mistake. The era of opaque management and unchecked projects must end now.”

— Deputy Marcus Vaudin