Independent technical due diligence that saved 60% of proposed budget

The Problem

A globally recognised humanitarian organisation had received a modernisation proposal from their existing development agency. Leadership needed an unbiased technical perspective before committing significant budget.

The Request

• Independent analysis: Evaluate the existing codebase without vendor influence
• Proposal validation: Assess whether the agency's estimates were reasonable
• Risk assessment: Identify technical and commercial risks
• Recommendation: Provide clear guidance on how to proceed

To ensure objectivity, we deliberately requested that the agency's proposal be withheld until the independent analysis was complete. This prevented their framing from influencing the assessment.

Our Approach

Over two to three weeks, we conducted a comprehensive code review and architectural assessment.

What We Found

The findings were concerning:

• Single project architecture: The entire codebase existed in one C# project file - no separation of concerns, no modular structure
• Outdated core library: The agency's "maintained" shared library had unsupported dependencies and security vulnerabilities
• Misattributed costs: Approximately 60% of the proposed modernisation effort addressed technical debt that should have been the agency's responsibility

The agency claimed to maintain their core library across all clients at no additional cost. The evidence showed this wasn't happening - the organisation was being asked to pay for the agency's failure to keep shared components current.

Deliverables

• Executive report: Current state, dependency risks, database observations, detailed risk analysis
• Business use case document: SWOT analysis, risk register, independent migration estimate
• Recommended approach: Phased re-architecture rather than big-bang replacement

Outcomes

Cost Clarity

• 60% of proposed costs identified as addressing vendor's technical debt
• Clear separation between legitimate modernisation work and vendor maintenance failures
• Foundation for informed commercial negotiations

Recommended Path Forward

Phased re-architecture approach:

1. Stabilise: Address critical issues in current system
2. Build: New modular backend on .NET 8 with Vue.js PWA frontend
3. Migrate: Incremental feature migration while running systems in parallel

Strategic Value

• Leadership equipped to challenge vendor assumptions
• Technical complexity translated into business terms
• Independent voice providing confidence in decisions

Ongoing Relationship

The engagement was received extremely positively. A follow-up review has been requested to assess the modernisation once underway - demonstrating the lasting value of independent technical advisory.