G4S: Catastrophic corporate failure..

[Hocus Eye.]

Hunt: 'Failure completely normal'

That link fails to connect. Perhaps the Telegraph has edited the item.

 

[peterkro]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/ol...normal-for-contractor-to-fail-to-deliver.html

 

[weltweit]

I hesitantly want to start a thread on the probability of a terrorist event during the 2012 Olympics.
But I will restrain myself.

 

[Kippa]

The terrorists probably put a tendor out, chose the cheapest supplier and got pea shooters for weapons.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Isn't it comforting to know that these guys have recently been taking over the running of secure psychiatric units?

Copied from the ATOS thread

DLA TO PIP MEDICAL BONANZA
Disability living allowance (DLA) claimants have been divided into four regional lots and are being sold off to ten shortlisted bidders – including multinational security companies - for the purpose of being medically assessed for personal independence payment.

A fifth, nationwide lot is also up for grabs, but the DWP have said they do not intend to use this contract unless things go wrong with regional suppliers.

PIP is due to begin replacing DLA for working age claimants from spring next year, with all current DLA claimants having to be reassessed for the new benefit. The contracts for PIP medicals are worth up to a billion pounds in total and have attracted the attention of many multinational companies.

Amongst the bidders through to the final round in all four regions is the increasingly heavily criticised Atos, who will undoubtedly be hoping that their LIMA software will give them the edge over their rivals.

Relative newcomers to the scene are security guards G4S, who have also been shortlisted for every contract. Their forensic medical arm, though more used to helping catch rapists and paedophiles, won a small contract to pilot PIP assessments last year. In 2010, three G4S security guards were bailed after the death, whilst they were restraining him, of an Angolan refugee being deported from Heathrow.

Serco, another company with a heavy security presence, have been shortlisted for Northern Ireland. Amongst many other contracts, Serco run prisons, detention centres and immigration removal centres in the UK and abroad. In Australia, a Serco training manual is alleged to have taught employees how to use pain, including punches and kicks, to subdue asylum seekers.

Capita, which runs the Criminal Records Bureau on behalf of the Home Office and is invariably referred to as ‘Crapita’ by Private Eye, has also been shortlisted for all regions. The company has been involved in a number of less than successful public service contracts in the past, including Individual Learning Accounts which were subject to fraudulent claims on an unprecedented scale and which were shut down after just one year.

Other potential providers include Avanta, Ingeus Deloitte, APM UK, Reed In Partnership and Vertex.

 

[elbows]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/ol...normal-for-contractor-to-fail-to-deliver.html

Quality. Lets save that quote for the next time someone drools something about the efficiency of the private sector. Hunt is turning out to be pretty effective at exposing the ideologies he supports for what they are - who would want him on their side?

"I don't think this is a moment for getting into the blame game. G4S have been quite honourable. It is completely normal that you are going to find some contractors on a project of this size who are not going to be able to deliver."

 

[xenon]

They should all be fucking killed.

This basically. What's the point of annalising this shit. It's not supposed to work. It doesn't have to work. Public money's been spent, contracts signed, palms greased, positions assured. not just with this particular debarkle. The whole fucking thing...

Burn them all...

 

[Delroy Booth]

To mark the 200th annivesary of the Luddite uprising I propose we all turn up at the headquarters of the firms running these workfare programs with sledgehammers and let nature take it's course.

 

[8115]

"He disclosed that G4S faced a penalty of up to £20 million for failing to deliver on its £284 million contract, and will have to pay another £30 million to the Ministry of Defence to cover the costs of providing the extra troops."

That's from the Telegraph piece. So, Group 4 are delivering £230 million pounds worth of the £284 million pound contract? Or, £230 million pounds has been pissed away down the drain?

 

[xenon]

Sadly, I still have some value in continuing living. Otherwise, I'm buying myself a chainsaw.

 

[8115]

Because, you know, when the co-op don't have any chick peas (they didn't have any yesterday), I don't just leave them most of the money on the counter.

 

[SpookyFrank]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/ol...normal-for-contractor-to-fail-to-deliver.html

That Jeremy Hunt. He's just not very good is he?

So we are to understand that G4S will be getting paid over 80% of their fee for doing roughly 50% of their job? Given that their costs will be much lower than if they'd actually hired the right number of staff, this probably means that G4S will walk away from this having made more money than they would have done if they'd fulfilled their obligations to the letter.

No wonder they're the world's biggest security company, if people are giving them contracts which actually pay them to fail.

 

[two sheds]

Anyone running a book on the first competitors who will be arrested as terrorists yet?

It will have to be ultra tempting for the police, and any G4S security people who do actually turn up for work, and with the army involved we might have a whole middle-eastern country's contingent taken out with anti-tank weapons .

Part of the welcoming pack should advise people against using electronic cigarettes or jumping over tube station barriers. Or looking foreign. Could do our medal count no end of good, mind .

 

[marty21]

I said this on the other thread but worth saying again

If was head honcho of G4S and I had this big security project that the world was watching - I'd shift all my fully trained staff from other less public projects and get temps in for them, use the fully trained and vetted permanent staff for the big gig - they will get less bad publicity if they have a fuck up somewhere else

but as someone said - they're shit everywhere

 

[Smokeandsteam]

I said this on the other thread but worth saying again

If was head honcho of G4S and I had this big security project that the world was watching - I'd shift all my fully trained staff from other less public projects and get temps in for them, use the fully trained and vetted permanent staff for the big gig - they will get less bad publicity if they have a fuck up somewhere else

but as someone said - they're shit everywhere

They have been doing exactly that.

But the basic problem is numbers.

What they should have done is had the recruitment, training and security vetting done at least a month ago. That approach, however, would have required G4S to pay staff an extra months wages to staff for doing 'nothing' (as in they couldn't bill government for it).

The 'just in time' approach to staff recruitment they use maximises profit but the sheer scale of the operation for the Olympics has revealed its flaws and the amateur nature of their operation.

 

[two sheds]

I also liked the Chairman of G4S hinting that management heads might roll. He's of course in no way responsible, oh no.

 

[DaveCinzano]

Three guards who worked for the security firm G4S have been told they will not face manslaughter charges over the death of Jimmy Mubenga, an Angolan refugee who collapsed while being escorted on a flight from Heathrow airport in London 21 months ago.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jul/17/jimmy-mubenga-guards-no-charges

 

[Edie]

I'm guessing everyone has already pissed themselves laughing at G4S's corporate song?

"You love your job and the people too
Making a difference is what you do
But consider all you have at stake
The time is now don't make a mistake
Because the enemy prowls, wanting to attack
But we're on the wall, we've got your back
So get out front and take the lead
And be the winner you were born to be
G4S! protecting the world
G4S! so dreams can unfurl
24/7 every night and day
A warrior stands ready so don't be afraid
G4S! secure in your world
G4S! let your dreams unfurl
We're guarding you with all our might
Keeping watch throughout the night"

 

[Smokeandsteam]

I also liked the Chairman of G4S hinting that management heads might roll. He's of course in no way responsible, oh no.

Whilst undeniably satisfying to see Buckles and G4S in a shit storm the noise in the press isn't focussing on the wider points - the flaws in the privatised model, the race to the bottom model, minimum wage/workfare workers etc

In that sense the personalities involved are unimportant really. As is the company to an extent as they all follow the same model and approach by and large.

Labour to date, and for obvious reasons, have had nothing to say on any of this which is really the chicken coming home to roost here.

 

[Brixton Hatter]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jul/17/jimmy-mubenga-guards-no-charges

What a surprise

 

[weltweit]

You have to be joking!

eta: at the song

 

[SpookyFrank]

Night gathers, and now my watch begins. It shall not end until my death. I shall take no wife, hold no lands, father no children. I shall wear no crowns and win no glory. I shall live and die at my post. I am the sword in the darkness. I am the watcher on the walls. I am the fire that burns against the cold, the light that brings the dawn, the horn that wakes the sleepers, the shield that guards the realms of men. I pledge my life and honor to G4S, for this night and all the nights to come.

 

[DaveCinzano]

Whilst undeniably satisfying to see Buckles and G4S in a shit storm the noise in the press isn't focussing on the wider points - the flaws in the privatised model, the race to the bottom model, minimum wage/workfare workers..

...no statutory regulation from the IPCC, which might be sensible if they're doing the work of the cops and keep having people die on them.

 

[weltweit]

Personally, my bet is that the CEO of G4S will be out before the Olympics opening ceremony.

 

[xenon]

Personally, my bet is that the CEO of G4S will be out before the Olympics opening ceremony.

Who gives a fuck. It's not about individuals. This is the model for outsaurced public services.

 

[Smokeandsteam]

Who gives a fuck. It's not about individuals. This is the model for outsaurced public services.

And the G4S story is running at the same time as the Coalition is revealing plans for the biggest round of outsourcing since the 80's.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Personally, my bet is that the CEO of G4S will be out before the Olympics opening ceremony.

Quite possibly, but he'll be leaving with a sackful of taxpayers' money slung over one shoulder. And he'll be replaced by someone who is to all intents and purposes exactly the same person.

 

[maldwyn]

currently being roasted by Mr Vaz, CEO must be shitting it

 

[Edie]

You have to be joking!

eta: at the song

No It's real

Like killer b commented on my fb "it reads like the anthem of some backwater fascist state. incredible."

 

[Dan U]

Gone belly up at box hill today as well according to my twitter. From local journos too. Fraction of the staff turned up.