Lessons from attempting to backsource a government IT system

Abstract

Backsourcing is not a common term and refers to the process of taking back development of a system that was previously outsourced. Even though the term is not a common one, the process that it describes is. Businesses try to reverse outsourcing and start insourcing all the time. The process however is not cost free and certainly is not paved with roses. Herein we report from our own experience of trying to backsource the development and maintenance of a large information system, focusing on the technical problems encountered. The novel aspect of this paper is that it is one of the few that provide insights into the specifics that one has to include in any outsourcing contract, for backsourcing to be possible.