The following entry is a record in the “Catalogue of Catastrophe” - a list of failed and troubled projects from around the world.
Department of Health - Victoria - Australia
Project name : HealthSMART
Project type : e-health records
Date : May 2012
Cost : $566 Million AUD
Synopsis :
Efforts to integrate patient health records with functions for financial management, patient management, resource management and medical image archiving are stopped after the project exceeds its origin...
Read More
Examples of failed projects
US Census Bureau – Field Data Collection Automation (FDCA) – Case Study
Read the full case study - US Census - Field Data Collection Automation Case Study - or read the abstract below.
Abstract
Requiring up to 1 million temporary workers to be hired, trained, deployed and managed, the US decennial census is one of the world's grandest administrative tasks. Taking a snapshot of American life, the census requires every living person in America to be accounted for. Conducting the census is a $10B project that takes a full ten years to plan, execute and complete. ...
Read More
The Millennium Experience
The following entry is a record in the “Catalogue of Catastrophe” - a list of failed and troubled projects from around the world.
Millennium Experience and the Millennium Dome - UK
Project type : Public exhibition
Date : 2000 (filed under recent classics)
Cost : £789M (initial investment) - £189 (recouped from ticket sales)
Synopsis :
The Millennium Dome in London, UK was a purpose built structure created to house a year long "Millennium Experience" exhibition that was to celebrate...
Read More
British Rail – Advanced Passenger Train
Following entry is a record in the “Catalogue of Catastrophe” - a list of failed and troubled projects from around the world.
British Rail - UK
Project name : Advanced Passenger Train (APT)
Project type : Design and development of high speed trains
Date : 1981 (filed under historical failures)
Cost : £50M (1981 costs estimated) – £150M (2012 inflation adjusted cost)
Synopsis :
With the goal of decreasing travel times between the UK's major cities, in the 1970's the then publicly o...
Read More
Department of Transport – West Coast Railway Franchise
The following entry is a record in the "Catalogue of Catastrophe” - a list of failed and troubled projects from around the world.
Department of Transport - UK
Project name : West Coast Rail Franchise Competition
Project type : Tendering process for operations of passenger rail system
Date : Sep 2012
Cost : £40 to £100 Million estimated
Synopsis :
Operated by private companies, the British rail system is divided into a number of distinct regions. The contract for the West Coast li...
Read More
De Havilland Comet
Following entry is a record in the “Catalogue of Catastrophe” - a list of failed and troubled projects from around the world.
De Havilland Aircraft - UK
Project name : Comet
Project type : Commercial aircraft design and development
Date : 1949-1954 (filed under historical failures)
Cost : Unknown
Synopsis :
Developed in the late 1940's, the de Havilland Comet was the first jet airliner to enter commercial service. A technological leap forward, the Comet ushered in the jet ...
Read More
Swedish Navy
Following entry is a record in the “Catalogue of Catastrophe” - a list of failed and troubled projects from around the world.
Swedish Navy
Project name : Vasa
Project type : Military vessel design and development
Date : 1628 (filed under historical failures)
Cost : Unknown
Synopsis :
The Swedish Navy's new flagship sinks on its maiden voyage after completing less than 1 nautical mile. Due to the ship being top heavy a gust of wind was able to capsize the ship resulting in the ...
Read More
Bristol Aeroplane Company
Following entry is a record in the “Catalogue of Catastrophe” - a list of failed and troubled projects from around the world.
Bristol Aeroplane Company - UK
Project name : Bristol Brabazon
Project type : Aircraft design and development
Date : 1949 (filed under historical failures)
Cost : £12M (1949 costs) - £350M (2012 inflation adjusted cost)
Synopsis :
Project failure is by no means a new phenomena. The mistakes that lead to today's failed projects are mistakes than have been ma...
Read More
London Stock Exchange – Taurus
Following entry is a record in the “Catalogue of Catastrophe” - a list of failed and troubled projects from around the world.
London Stock Exchange - UK
Project : Taurus (Transfer and Automated Registration of Uncertificated Stock)
Project type : Share trading system
Date : Mar 1993 (filed under golden oldies)
Cost : £75M lost by the London Stock Exchange and as much as £400M by other stakeholders
Synopsis :
Efforts to move form paper based stock trading to a computerized system b...
Read More
G4S – Olympics Security Shambles
Following entry is a record in the “Catalogue of Catastrophe” - a list of failed and troubled projects from around the world.
G4S Security Services - UK
Project type : Provision of security personnel for the 2012 London Olympic games
Project name : Olympic games
Date : Aug 2012 Cost : $60M Management fee
Synopsis :
3,500 British military personnel are called in at the last minute to plug gaps in the 2012 Olympic Games security after G4S Ltd failed to deliver on their contract t...
Read More