"why everyone, almost from the moment it started, thought NPfIT/cfh was gonna fail?" Probably through bitter experience of the IT companies being used. Before retraining as an Ambulance Tech last year I spent over 25 years as a mainframe analyst/programmer. I've worked with/for the likes of I*M, And*rs*ns (whatever they call themselves now, they're still androids) and E*S; and I know that they are great at selling, but rubbish at actually providing the solutions they (over)charge for! The reason they still get government contracts is because: a) every other major IT outsourcing company is just as bad, b) all these companies spend enormous amounts on "awaydays", "team-building" exercises, events at party conferences and so on; to influence the relevant decision makers; and c) civil servants and politicians have absolutely no idea what is required when specifying IT systems: consequently the salesmen can run rings around them during negotiations. And when the system(s) are late and over-budget; instead of deciding to stop throwing (OUR) good money after bad and cancelling (which would require the bureaucrats to a) make a decision, and b) admit that they got it wrong in the first place); the politicians/civil servants are quite happy to spend even more of OUR money just so that they have something (however bad - remember these people aren't the ones that actually have to use these systems) to show for all the money that has been spent.