A Planned customer service system for Swansea Council costing around £84 million has been ditched in favour of one costing less than £1 million.The authority has been forced to turn to Cardiff Council for help after its multi-million pound IT plans fell apart.
Private firm Capgemini had been in line to provide the cutting-edge customer service system after supplying the technology to replace the authority's back office IT system.
But as projected costs spiralled, council leaders decided to drop the company and find a cheaper alternative.
Cabinet member for eGovernment Mary Jones has now confirmed high-level talks with Cardiff Council are at an advanced stage and a deal could be struck within weeks.
Just £200,000 has been set aside for the start-up of the scheme, which is expected to be in place by September.
It will not deliver the ambitious promises outlined when the council embarked on its eGovernment programme two years ago, but comes at a fraction of the cost.
Councillor Jones said an alternative had to be found after an option to deal with Capgemini was dropped in January.
"We have gone out to look for an alternative that is affordable and acceptable for what we want to do with it.
"No deal has been done, but we have had talks with Cardiff Council to use its system."
Swansea Council's involvement with Capgemini has been dogged by controversy. As well as spiralling costs, the deal to transfer council staff to the firm caused the longest public sector strike in Welsh history.
Less than £8 million of a projected £26 million of savings have so far been identified as achievable.
Another link to Capgemini, the project's name, has also gone.
Councillor Jones said: "We are dropping the name Service@Swansea . The new system will not be called that and we have three alternatives that we are looking at."
The opening of the council's new customer contact centre at County Hall in September is a key factor - something has to be in place by then, and Cardiff offers an affordable and reliable solution.
However, unlike the original plans there will be no call centre, and residents will have to deal with staff face-to-face, or use an email form.
The news has been broadly welcomed by opposition groups at Swansea Council, although they say too much time has been wasted with Capgemini.
Councillor Mark Child, the Labour group's technology spokesman, said: "Unfortunately, we no longer have the IT expertise to be able to implement this in-house as they were all transferred to Capgemini. Having said that, this is the approach we have been advocating all along.
"Cardiff has had this system for five years and it is something we could have gone with much earlier."
Conservative group leader Rene Kinzett agreed that something needed to be done.
He added: "It is only a shame that we have spent so much time and energy, and possibly money, on discussions with Capgemini.
"The fact that we are not making the savings from the first phase means we are not in a position to get anything like the system we were promised."
