Interserve - the next Carillion?

You forget the private IT companies bidding for Govt contracts for DWP, HMRC & NHS

Worked for quite a few of the private companies on Govt contracts for ALL of the above industries for 20 years.

The govt get ripped off right, left & centre on cost, delivery dates, what is actually produced etc etc.

The main reason IMO was that the Govt departments awarding the contracts (and high placed individuals in particular) had no business acumen. They had been nowhere & done nothing except for being civil servants. Their due diligence is no more lip-service in most cases

We rang ring around them on cost, deliverables, timescales .

I don't work for them now but it seems nothing has changed.

Gravy train
The problem in a nutshell
 


All the FM companies operate on very low margins so you end up with directors reducing their prices during the bid process simply to win the business and grow their revenues then worry about delivering the service later......

Also historically FM companies have either been hard or soft services orientated, but to grow revenues most have become ‘total’ FM companies which results in layers of sub contractors chasing an ever decreasing margin.

I do think the out source model is still valid if done right as it should bring economies of scale and innovation to the service.

Carillon are definitely not alone in these challenges
Why don`t Councils and NHS departments and schools etc just do their own FM?? They used to do it in the olden days and things seemed to work fine then.

You forget the private IT companies bidding for Govt contracts for DWP, HMRC & NHS

Worked for quite a few of the private companies on Govt contracts for ALL of the above industries for 20 years.

The govt get ripped off right, left & centre on cost, delivery dates, what is actually produced etc etc.

The main reason IMO was that the Govt departments awarding the contracts (and high placed individuals in particular) had no business acumen. They had been nowhere & done nothing except for being civil servants. Their due diligence is no more lip-service in most cases

We rang ring around them on cost, deliverables, timescales .

I don't work for them now but it seems nothing has changed.

Gravy train
Why not hire people in these departments who DO have the expertise?? maybe the big problem here is austerity. They won`t pay the wages for adequately qualified staff and this is the end result. A bit like our transfer policy....buy James Vaughn etc and we head towards relegation. Government depts. take on inexperienced/under qualified staff and this is the result.
 
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Spoke to a mate of mine this morning who worked for Carrilion said he thinks he will get a third of the redundancy he would expect been there years on the training side that was making money for the company
 
Why don`t Councils and NHS departments and schools etc just do their own FM?? They used to do it in the olden days and things seemed to work fine then.

Xmas lights firm on the news other day decorated Blackburn town centre or similar for council but bills had to go via. Carillion. Ie 120 days now not getting paid.

Business is simple. Every contractor involved incurrs another staff/expense/markup.

So your 15 grand town centre lights are suddenly 19 grand yet look identical.

Pleased Im not working for any of these bandits at present. Plenty honest, hardworking firms will bear the brunt.

And dont get me started on f***ing SAFECONTRACTOR etc.
 
Part of why our company wouldn't deal direct with Carillion.
One of our customers has lost some work with them and therefore not taking some of our hire kit.

We only have a small liability with Interserve, as have them on strict 60 days.
Not worth the exposure for SME's like us.

I know of companies who deliberately hire small companies to do work and then don’t pay them - they then wait for the small company to go under due to cash flow issues and avoid payment, they only pay the ones who survive and push for the cash. Shocking way to do business
 
I know of companies who deliberately hire small companies to do work and then don’t pay them - they then wait for the small company to go under due to cash flow issues and avoid payment, they only pay the ones who survive and push for the cash. Shocking way to do business
This has gone on for years, we’ve been dealing with a major US company on exactly those lines over the last 12 months...thankfully we have weathered it, they must be gutted. It’s obviously affected our supply chain too which has been difficult.

Anyhow I heard yesterday Capita are in dodgy water...might be one to watch out for
 
How do these companies even come to be providing services to the state? They all seem to be experts in everything.

Healthcare, construction, admin, school dinners

Do they just say they’ll do it cheap as owt and do a shit job?

I thought it was only in Africa where corruption occurs?
 
How do these companies even come to be providing services to the state? They all seem to be experts in everything.

Healthcare, construction, admin, school dinners

Do they just say they’ll do it cheap as owt and do a shit job?
Through pure greed... Its always about the money.
 
The administrators take over the running of the business to protect creditors.

:lol: In a pre-pack?

Bit naive of the BBC.

The only thing the adminstrators will protect is their whopping bill.
 
Shit that, met a good smber recently with a role there.

45,000 employees. I hope they are able to get the requisite help to avoid the worst.

Stab in the dark but dealing with these the number effected including regular subbies may be trebble that.
 
Got a few calls from them yesterday looking for stuff as others had pulled up the drawbridge, once that starts it's almost inevitable. Were always good lads, my biggest and best customers when I was in UAE
 
I worked for HP and they built their business up through acquisitions and although the wildly varying business types didn’t work they are a smart company to work for.

They noticed that outsourcing and hardware etc. didn’t go together so split the company out.

The government needs to intervene in these cases and force a split if that is possible.
HP/DXC are f***ing shit
 

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