Who is really at fault?

[Buns_of_Fire]

4. There's probably plenty of blame to be spread all around.

Fuzzy specifications, undefined deliverables, the typical coding errors that ripple through the system, insufficient bench testing, insufficient plans for integration testing, late specifications to the contractor, etc., etc., etc.

Some preliminary finger-pointing has already begin, and I'm sure there'll be a lot more of it to come -- but on a project this size, the blame (or success) can seldom be laid at any one specific door.

If all sides will act professional about it, their priority now is to get everything running as promised, and save the finger-pointing until later. Alas, I've seldom seen that happen too often, either.