Accenture set for Libra follow-up deal

Consultant Accenture is expected to win a five-year, £40m contract to roll out case management software to all UK magistrates' courts, following the disastrous collapse of the Libra project last year.

Sources close to the negotiations say that Accenture will be responsible for systems integration, including proving, hosting, migration and implementation. The application software is being provided by STL.

The services to be provided by Accenture and STL were originally part of the £183m Libra contract signed with ICL - now Fujitsu Services - in 1998. Libra was designed to provide a standard IT system for Magistrate's Courts including upgraded infrastructure, office automation facilities, a national casework application and electronic links with other criminal justice agencies such as the Crown Prosecution Service.

But the project was abandoned in July 2002due to concerns over delays and spiralling costs, having already been renegotiated to double its original value.

After the collapse Libra was split into three. Fujitsu Services retained responsibility for the infrastructure element of the project. Legacy magistrates' courts systems supplier STL won the contract to provide the case management application in December last year. The Accenture deal is expected to be the third element.

The newly-created Department of Constitutional Affairs - which has absorbed the Lord Chancellor's Department and is now responsible for the courts - says negotiations are still continuing and nothing has been signed.

Edward Leigh, chairman of the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee described Libra earlier this year as 'a shocking waste of money'.