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As another EU citizen living in the UK, I don't think anyone is saying everything the UK does ever is stupid or doesn't work. But there's a certain cultural thi
by AsyncAwait 6y ago
As another EU citizen living in the UK, I don't think anyone is saying everything the UK does ever is stupid or doesn't work. But there's a certain cultural thing about doing things "my way" despite good evidence it's not worth doing that way.
I am not sure why everything has to be compared in terms of all or nothing.
In this case specifically, they knew that they're playing a loosing game since Apple and Google are ultimately the gatekeepers of the gadgets doing the actual tracing.
Thinking that somehow the UK has the individual power to go ahead and reasonably do it's own thing is nothing but arrogant.
- matthewdgreen 6y agoThey spent 108m GBP in the process of failing, too. The Swiss spent a couple million CHF. I wonder where that money went. ETA: sources in grandchild comment.
- raxxorrax 6y ago108m pound for a tracking app? How can I develop software for the British government?
- M2Ys4U 6y agoBe friends with Dominic Cummings
- nicky0 6y agoSource?
- matthewdgreen 6y agoUK app cost was reported here: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/17/world/europe/uk-contact-tracing-coronavirus.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/17/world/europe/uk-contact-t... I am trusting Kenny Paterson at ETH Zurich on the cost of the Swiss app, since he was involved in developing it: https://twitter.com/kennyog/status/1273612397861842950?s=20 https://twitter.com/kennyog/status/1273612397861842950?s=20 ETA: NYT article also mentions a "secretive procurement process" for the UK app, which sounds a bit worrying.
- teh_klev 6y ago> a "secretive procurement process" for the UK app, which sounds a bit worrying Sadly this is unsurprising and par for the course for the UK government these days.
- timthorn 6y agoIt was awarded to a supplier through the G-Cloud procurement framework, who obtained their place their in accordance with OJEU rules. Details here: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/2d8c89c5-69d2-4073-88dd-401458a92134 https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/2d8c89c5-6... Not particularly secretive, just a bit bureaucratic.
- matthewdgreen 6y agoI'm a little confused. The company cited in your post is Zuhlke Engineering Ltd, which is a Swiss company that appears to be taking over the management of the app going forward, for a much more reasonable contract price of 3.9M GBP [1]. I don't think they're the ones who consumed 108M GBP on past development. Does the G-Cloud procurement website have any details on where the 108M was spent? [1] Random website I found when googling, grain of salt etc: https://bylinetimes.com/2020/05/08/nhsx-contract-tracing-app-management-of-outsourced-to-private-company-and-to-be-accessed-overseas/ https://bylinetimes.com/2020/05/08/nhsx-contract-tracing-app...
- timthorn 6y agoThe £108m is for the contact tracing service, which includes 15000 employees. The app is not part of that deal.
- nicky0 6y ago108 million was the price for operaring the contact tracing service, not the app.