MOT computerisation PFI project delayed again

The MOT computerisation project, which aims to take a million illegal and dangerous cars off the road, will now not be fully rolled out to testing stations and garages until at least next March - nearly three years after it was due to be delivered.

The original date for the first MOT stations to be computerised was May 2002 but faults discovered during extensive testing led to repeated delays. The first garages finally went live with the system in April this year but the government has now admitted it will not reach all 18,500 MOT garages until the end of March next year at the earliest.

Transport Minister Dr Stephen Ladyman said: "There are currently 2,730 garages who have conducted tests using the new system. The rollout of the system to all remaining testing stations depends on continued satisfactory performance and is planned to be completed by 31 March, 2006."

The Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (Vosa) awarded the 10-year £230m private finance initiative (PFI) computerisation contract to Siemens Business Services back in 2000. When fully rolled out garages and vehicle testing stations will use smart cards to send MOT details electronically by a secure internet connection directly to a central MOT database.

Cost overruns have also dogged development of the system and Vosa will now have to pay SBS £1.09 per test - up from £1.07 two years ago - at an additional cost of almost half a million pounds per year for the annual testing of the UK's 23.5 million cars. Vosa's capital expenditure on the scheme is also estimated to hit £30.5m by the time the system is rolled out to all testing stations.

But SBS has also hinted that more delays may be ahead because of a review of the activation processes, which is slowing down the rollout of the system to MOT garages.

Ian Tait, operations related services director at SBS, told silicon.com: "Siemens has the capacity to still achieve the end of the year date but as is the case with all of our client relationships, will only strive to achieve such a deadline if it does not compromise the quality of the service provided."

Tait said SBS' costs had increased under the terms of the PFI contract as a result of changes in requirement and legislation but he declined to comment on increases in Vosa's costs.

A statement from Vosa said: "There have been delays to the rollout of MOT computerisation. Vosa has worked with SBS to develop a robust system and by slowing down the rate of rollout we are ensuring that more time is given to each garage to activate it successfully."