A multinational firm contracted to deliver a £60m IT system for Police Scotland has "very clearly" let the force down, MSPs have heard.

Multiple faults were found when Accenture handed over the i6 programme to Police Scotland despite the firm's claims it had been thoroughly tested, Holyrood's Justice Sub-Committee on Policing was told.

After hearing criticisms of the global corporation, convener Christine Grahame said she "wouldn't let them fix my pipes".

Martin Leven, director of ICT at Police Scotland, told the committee: "I have doubts as to the capability of the contractor to deliver this going forward.

"The contractor will need to prove to us, as part of these negotiations, that they are completely capable of delivering this because they have very clearly let us down."

Accenture claimed that i6 passed its internal testing but flaws quickly emerged when Police Scotland tested the programme, the committee heard. In total, 76 defects of "varying severity" were discovered in the system.

Hamish MacPherson, Police Scotland's i6 programme director, said Accenture then admitted "the test coverage within their tests was probably insufficient".

Ms Grahame asked: "I'm not going to be gentle about this - were they covering up difficulties?"

Mr MacPherson replied that he had no evidence to suggest there had been a cover-up.

He said: "I have no evidence to suggest whether it was a cover-up or it was just a lack of coverage within the testing."

Committee member SNP MSP Kevin Stewart asked: "Can this company be trusted?"

Mr MacPherson said Accenture's remediation plan "would address most of the issues" if done accurately.

Ms Grahame said: "We've either got people who have not got the skill to do it in the first place, or we've got the fact that they were making mistakes, or a mixture."

Mr Leven said: "My honest opinion is that the senior managers in Accenture, the ones that we face up against, probably were not aware of the issues until such time as we highlighted them."

Ms Grahame said: "I wouldn't let them fix my pipes and radiators at this rate. They would tell me that they were alright and they would still have leaks."

Mr MacPherson said Police Scotland was conscious of difficulties in several other public sector IT projects and negotiated its contract "very robustly" at the outset.

"We think we have a very watertight contract that protects Police Scotland and its interests," he said.

NHS Scotland chief executive Paul Gray told Holyrood's Public Audit Committee on Wednesday he was "very sorry indeed" for contractual flaws in an NHS 24 IT programme which saw its budget spiral by 55% to at least £117.4m

Deputy chief constable Neil Richardson told a board meeting of the Scottish Police Authority that a "summit" had taken place last week with senior members of Accenture, the chair of the authority and people directly involved in the programme to discuss options to get back on track to deliver the requirements of i6.

An Accenture spokesman said: "This is a very complex project. The complexity of the solution, which has been driven by the client, has increased significantly over the last two years.

"There have been issues on both sides, but we have worked closely with Police Scotland to conduct a detailed review of the programme and have recommended revised plans. We are working with the client and the SPA to agree a way forward."