When comparing success rates of information systems in the public and private sector, governments generally lag behind. Information system failure received limited coverage in public administration: not much research examines whether private sector IS success or acceptance models can be applied in a public sector context. This paper aims to contribute to this research gap.We investigate if two IS acceptance or success models can be applied to study the causes of failure of an e-government system. The first model is ‘the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology’; the second ‘the Updated Information System Success Model’. Our results, based on an exploratory case study analysis, demonstrate that both models have value to analyse intergovernmental information system failure. The combination of IS lenses in a more comprehensive model might be a valuable future contribution to e-government studies.