All posts tagged: Outsourcing

Denmark again contemplates outsourcing asylum procedures to third countries

Denmark again contemplates outsourcing asylum procedures to third countries

Published by skeptic

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen (left) with European Commissioner for Home Affairs and Migration Ylva Johansson at an international conference on migration in Copenhagen, May 6, 2024. MADS CLAUS RASMUSSEN / AFP In January 2023, the Danish government announced that it was temporarily abandoning its plan to outsource asylum procedures to Rwanda. At the time, immigration minister Kaare Dybvad argued that his country wanted to move forward with its European partners, recognizing that a Danish solution would not solve the problem facing the European Union. “We also realized that after criticizing us, more and more countries were interested in what we had to offer,” the Ministry said. On Monday, May 6, Copenhagen hosted an international conference on immigration. Over 250 political leaders and representatives of international organizations, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Organization for Migration, and Europol, discussed various types of “durable solutions,” in the form of “partnerships” with third countries, designed to stem the flow of arrivals and speed up returns. The Italian interior minister, Matteo Piantedosi, his Austrian …

The hidden psychological risk of outsourcing decisions to AI

The hidden psychological risk of outsourcing decisions to AI

Published by José

As artificial intelligence creeps further into people’s daily lives, so do worries about it. At the most alarmist are concerns about AI going rogue and terminating its human masters. But behind the calls for a pause on the development of AI is a suite of more tangible social ills. Among them are the risks AI poses to people’s privacy and dignity and the inevitable fact that, because the algorithms under AI’s hood are programmed by humans, it is just as biased and discriminatory as many of us. Throw in the lack of transparency about how AI is designed, and by whom, and it’s easy to understand why so much time these days is devoted to debating its risks as much as its potential. But my own research as a psychologist who studies how people make decisions leads me to believe that all these risks are overshadowed by an even more corrupting, though largely invisible, threat. That is, AI is mere keystrokes away from making people even less disciplined and skilled when it comes to thoughtful …

The Government’s Struggles With Outsourcing Software Development

The Government’s Struggles With Outsourcing Software Development

Published by skeptic

Relative to the 496 billion Canadian dollars the federal government spent last year, the amounts are small. But this week’s revelations surrounding millions of dollars in potentially fraudulent billings by subcontractors, along with the continuing ArriveCAN app scandal, show what a big mess developing software can be for the government. Even after an extensive investigation, Karen Hogan, the auditor general, said she could not determine exactly what it had cost to create ArriveCAN, which was rushed out in 2020 to collect contact and health information from international travelers during the Covid-19 pandemic and to coordinate quarantine measures. Ms. Hogan’s best guess is about 60 million dollars for an app that was widely derided as difficult to use. Its original budget was 2.3 million dollars. This week, as federal officials announced measures to tighten oversight of government procurement, particularly for software services, they said that the government had asked the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to investigate 5 million dollars in invoices from three software contractors as potential frauds. The officials did not name the companies but …

The Guardian view on the privatisation of health: outsourcing will not save the NHS | Editorial

The Guardian view on the privatisation of health: outsourcing will not save the NHS | Editorial

Published by skeptic

Private hospitals in England carried out more procedures on the NHS’s behalf last year than ever before. The total figure of 1.67m elective (non-urgent) treatments such as joint replacements and cataract removals amounted to 10% of the total – the first time this symbolically important threshold has been reached. In the short term, the arrangement under which the NHS purchases care from private providers is reducing waiting times for some treatments. But the benefits to patients, and to NHS administrators and ministers struggling with waiting lists and rising public dissatisfaction, should not blind anyone to the fact that the growth of private healthcare undermines the NHS and the principles that are its foundation. Rising demand for private healthcare is not limited to NHS commissioners. At the same time that they are spending more money than ever on private providers, demand for insurance is booming. Last week, Aviva reported a 41% year-on-year rise in sales of health policies in 2023. Customers were split between individuals and businesses, more of which are choosing to offer cover to …

four reasons why the government’s model for outsourcing is broken

four reasons why the government’s model for outsourcing is broken

Published by skeptic

For over a decade, the Post Office and its supplier, Fujitsu, insisted that the Horizon system used in its branches was completely “robust”. When discrepancies appeared in hundreds of branch accounts across the country, the Post Office refused to believe the system was at fault and didn’t challenge the information it got from Fujitsu. Instead, it blamed the shortfalls on sub-postmasters, made them pay the losses, and prosecuted over 700 of them. The multimillion-pound contract between the Post Office and Fujitsu is at the heart of the scandal. The way the contract worked meant that Fujitsu was incentivised to fix bugs quickly rather than well. The Post Office didn’t have the expertise it needed to understand what was going wrong. The Post Office’s dependence on Fujitsu also meant that it protected its relationship with them at the expense of sub-postmasters and the public. The problems with the Horizon contract underpin one of the most widespread miscarriages of justice in UK history. But they are also replicated across thousands of other government contracts, including for many …

Navigating startups through smart investments, outsourcing and cash preservation

Navigating startups through smart investments, outsourcing and cash preservation

Published by skeptic

Amnon Mishor is the CTO of Gynger, a fintech startup that provides flexible financing for software and infrastructure. More posts by this contributor Stop creating self-fulfilling prophecies: How to apply AI to small data problems We often are taught that a company is only as good as its talent. While I’ve found this to be true, in recent years, investing in tech has become equally important. Every aspect of your business will be impacted by the technology you source and how you choose to incorporate it — from what solutions you OEM into your product to the tools you choose to drive efficiency, productivity and financial standing. SaaS (software-as-a-service) and cloud software have drastically improved in terms of variety, quality and availability. But given today’s harsh economy and reduced VC spending, startups need a critical eye when purchasing SaaS and cloud infrastructure. It would seem advantageous for startups to slow down investing in tech until the economy turns around, but investing in the right tech with the right financial strategy is the best choice you …

Rise in outsourced UK government services failing to meet standards | Outsourcing

Published by Sam

The number of outsourced government services that are failing to meet standards has risen sharply, with concerns raised about schemes to support asylum seekers and educate young offenders. A register compiled by Whitehall officials keeps track of each contract tendered, along with its “key performance indicators” (KPIs) to judge whether it is being delivered well and a rating: “good”, “approaching target”, “requires improvement” and “inadequate”. In what critics said was evidence of ministers failing to deliver high-quality public services, the number of contractors providing work judged to be “inadequate” or “requires improvement” jumped from 119 to 207 in a year – a 73% rise. That means 6.5% of all the targets set for government contracts were being missed, though service providers often blamed external factors. The figures relate to the first quarter of 2023, and are a sharp jump when compared with the same period last year, which saw the proportion of jobs judged to be “inadequate” or requiring improvement stand at 4.81%. Across Whitehall, the Ministry of Justice saw the highest number of concerns …

Outsourcing giant Capita fears customer data stolen during ransomware attack

Outsourcing giant Capita fears customer data stolen during ransomware attack

Published by skeptic

Capita, the British outsourcing company that provides critical services for the U.K. government, says hackers may have accessed customer data during a cyberattack last month. The London-based outsourcing giant, whose customers include the NHS, the U.K. military, and the Department for Work and Pensions, said in a statement on Thursday that its investigation into the March attack unearthed evidence of “limited data exfiltration” which “might include customer, supplier or colleague data.” Capita hasn’t said how many customers have been affected or what types of data were accessed. Russ Lynch, an agency spokesperson representing Capita, told TechCrunch the company would not comment beyond its statement. However, a Sunday Times report claimed that the Russian-speaking Black Basta ransomware group, which claimed responsibility for the attack, published personal bank account details, passport photos and addresses, along with personal data belonging to teachers’ applying for jobs at schools. The gang is also believed to be responsible for the recent attack on U.S. satellite television provider Dish. At the time of writing, Capita is not listed on Black Basta’s dark …