Written question asked by Gerald Howarth (Conservative) on Monday, 11 October 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 21 October 2004. It was answered by Adam Ingram (Labour) on Thursday, 21 October 2004 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Ministry of Defence

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what problems have been experienced with the software included in the Bowman Radio Communications Programme; and what he estimates the cost of correcting these problems to be.

Answer: Mr. Gerald Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what problems have been experienced with the software included in the Bowman Radio Communications Programme; and what he estimates the cost of correcting these problems to be. [191019] Mr. Ingram: Bowman is a software intensive programme that contains over 10 million lines of bespoke source code. With a system of this complexity, it is typical for errors to be encountered following the integration of sub-systems, especially as it is often operated in a manner not predicted in its original design. The programme is continuing within its approved schedule, cost and performance, and the costs of software development cannot be separately identified within the contract firm price secured through competition.

Secondary information