<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>CONTRACT TERMINATED AFTER SNAGS
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>$30m suit against NUS thrown out
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>IT firm must pay $300k first; compensation may run into millions </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By K.C. Vijayan, Law Correspondent
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->THE HIGH court has thrown out a $30 million suit against the National University of Singapore (NUS) by an information technology firm whose deal to install a student data information system fell through.
At a closed-door hearing last week, Singapore-based firm K Solutions was instead ordered to pay the university an initial $300,000 in run-up costs.
Further compensation for NUS, which could amount to millions, will be assessed later. This would include the university's cost difference in engaging a new firm to replace K Solutions.
Assistant Registrar Lim Jian Yi may publish the grounds for the decision later.
The university had sought some $6.5 million in its counter-claim against K Solutions as it had to call for a new tender after terminating its contract in September last year.
K Solutions was awarded the contract in 2005 and it was at that time the fifth largest government tender released in 2004, according to the firm's website.
The firm was cited by the Infocomm Development Authority to be among the top public sector IT systems integrators for 2004.
The $8.3 million contract called for a single data source for student records, an integrated hub linking disparate systems within NUS' 13 faculties and schools as well as other organisational units like the library and office administration.
The software contract also called for a university-wide portal providing for one access point to all Web-based services.
But two months after the project kicked off, snags surfaced as the firm claimed NUS faced problems in seconding staff to serve full-time as subject matter experts to provide inputs for the new system as stated in the project proposal.
Through Senior Counsel Lok Vi Ming and lawyer Edric Pan from Rodyk & Davidson, K Solutions made it clear that it could not be held accountable if the project was 'delayed or compromised' due to staffing issues arising within NUS.
Among other things, the contract stated that staff were to be sourced from administrators in the various faculties and the Registrar's Office who were familiar with the university's business processes and workflow development to support the various teams on the project.
The firm also claimed there was slow access to the NUS database resulting in more delays.
Talks between the two parties in July 2006 - to sort out issues leading to the delay and suggest alternative approaches - apparently failed and NUS terminated the deal three months later.
The firm wanted to be reimbursed for the outstanding $7.4 million bill for services undertaken as well as for some $23.3 million it claimed would have been profits from projects it could have undertaken in Brunei.
NUS, through Senior Counsel Cavinder Bull and lawyers Lim Gerui and Foo Yuet Min from Drew & Napier, countered that the university did provide sufficient resources which went beyond what it was obliged to under the deal. It cited, among other things, the 16 part-time IT staff NUS assigned to the project in November 2005 although it was not obliged to do so.
NUS said the project did not progress in a 'timely and/or well- managed manner' because the firm had failed to resolve 'critical issues', such as the high turnover rate among the firm's senior staff which it neglected to replace in a 'timely manner'.
The university added that K Solutions' work quality was 'below reasonable expectations'.
NUS is claiming from K Solutions some $6.5 million, being the difference for the project to be completed by another contractor.
It said the sum was the difference between the $14 million bid by another IT firm Accenture and K Solutions' $8.3 million tender.
NUS is implementing the new project with the assistance of external consultants and contractors and the project is expected to take at least another year to complete, said a spokesman. [email protected]
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>$30m suit against NUS thrown out
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>IT firm must pay $300k first; compensation may run into millions </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By K.C. Vijayan, Law Correspondent
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->THE HIGH court has thrown out a $30 million suit against the National University of Singapore (NUS) by an information technology firm whose deal to install a student data information system fell through.
At a closed-door hearing last week, Singapore-based firm K Solutions was instead ordered to pay the university an initial $300,000 in run-up costs.
Further compensation for NUS, which could amount to millions, will be assessed later. This would include the university's cost difference in engaging a new firm to replace K Solutions.
Assistant Registrar Lim Jian Yi may publish the grounds for the decision later.
The university had sought some $6.5 million in its counter-claim against K Solutions as it had to call for a new tender after terminating its contract in September last year.
K Solutions was awarded the contract in 2005 and it was at that time the fifth largest government tender released in 2004, according to the firm's website.
The firm was cited by the Infocomm Development Authority to be among the top public sector IT systems integrators for 2004.
The $8.3 million contract called for a single data source for student records, an integrated hub linking disparate systems within NUS' 13 faculties and schools as well as other organisational units like the library and office administration.
The software contract also called for a university-wide portal providing for one access point to all Web-based services.
But two months after the project kicked off, snags surfaced as the firm claimed NUS faced problems in seconding staff to serve full-time as subject matter experts to provide inputs for the new system as stated in the project proposal.
Through Senior Counsel Lok Vi Ming and lawyer Edric Pan from Rodyk & Davidson, K Solutions made it clear that it could not be held accountable if the project was 'delayed or compromised' due to staffing issues arising within NUS.
Among other things, the contract stated that staff were to be sourced from administrators in the various faculties and the Registrar's Office who were familiar with the university's business processes and workflow development to support the various teams on the project.
The firm also claimed there was slow access to the NUS database resulting in more delays.
Talks between the two parties in July 2006 - to sort out issues leading to the delay and suggest alternative approaches - apparently failed and NUS terminated the deal three months later.
The firm wanted to be reimbursed for the outstanding $7.4 million bill for services undertaken as well as for some $23.3 million it claimed would have been profits from projects it could have undertaken in Brunei.
NUS, through Senior Counsel Cavinder Bull and lawyers Lim Gerui and Foo Yuet Min from Drew & Napier, countered that the university did provide sufficient resources which went beyond what it was obliged to under the deal. It cited, among other things, the 16 part-time IT staff NUS assigned to the project in November 2005 although it was not obliged to do so.
NUS said the project did not progress in a 'timely and/or well- managed manner' because the firm had failed to resolve 'critical issues', such as the high turnover rate among the firm's senior staff which it neglected to replace in a 'timely manner'.
The university added that K Solutions' work quality was 'below reasonable expectations'.
NUS is claiming from K Solutions some $6.5 million, being the difference for the project to be completed by another contractor.
It said the sum was the difference between the $14 million bid by another IT firm Accenture and K Solutions' $8.3 million tender.
NUS is implementing the new project with the assistance of external consultants and contractors and the project is expected to take at least another year to complete, said a spokesman. [email protected]
