The British Army keeps missing recruiting targets under a program begun in 2012 despite a £495 million contract with Capita Business Services ltd. for expertise in recruitment and marketing, the UK’s National Audit Office reported. An online recruitment system by Capita was more than four years late and cost £113 million, triple its original budget. But the report also found recent improvements in the process.

Technical problems with the online system resulted in 13,000 fewer applications between November 2017 and March 2018 compared to the same period in the previous year, according to the NAO’s report published on Friday.

Complexity of the Army’s recruitment process was also cited by the report as a concern. It had been taking up to 321 days for half of regular soldier applicants to go from starting in the recruitment process to beginning basic training. In addition, the Army and Capita cut down on the number of local recruitment centres to 68 from 131, but both later realised applicants needed additional support and that face-to-face contract was important to getting applicants to join. Support from local offices was ultimately enhanced.

Capita was penalised £26 million for missing recruitment targets, and the targets were reduced by 20% in the 2017-18 year, according to the report. But the recruitment targets were still being missed. On the other hand, improvements in the project are being made, and the report noted applications have increased over the last two years.

“As the NAO report states, both Capita and the Army underestimated the complexity of this project,” a Capita spokesperson said in a statement to Staffing Industry Analysts. “Our focus is now on working with the Army to deliver a recruitment process fit for the 21st century. We have overhauled governance on the contract and are already seeing improvements, with applications at a five-year high and a reduction in the amount of time it takes candidates to join the Army. We are absolutely committed to getting this partnership right.”