For the international developers who like me search for excellence and tries to not repeat others mistakes, hers are a few facts from Swedish road administrations expensive road toll project.
Background to road toll project
Road tolls are not common in Sweden, but following London's example, a road toll experiment was initiated by capital city Stockholm's political majority. The road tolls was implemented to discourage traffic in Stockholm inner-city.
The technical solution was not copied from any other city, but IBM was contracted by Swedish road administration ( Vägverket ) to do the development. The deal was 900 million SEK (about $1 500 000) but - surprise - the project became a lot more expensive .
Vägverket mostly blames the political decision and unclear IBM invoicing as reason.
Vägverket says that IBM charge for things twice and always asked for more money for smallest change request.
IBM says Vägverket was really tough on requirements and that they met all requirements and had to charge for requirement changes.
IBM also maintains that the high cost is due to very high requirements on availability. IBM also argues no one else could deliver this kind of systems.
It has been calculated that the road toll experiment will reach break even sometimes 2011 after about four years of service.
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