Government plans to cut costs by sharing administration systems are forging ahead as two Whitehall organisations sign up to the Cabinet Office’s central IT deal.

The newly-created Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (Dius) is the first big department to join the Flex managed service contract signed with Fujitsu in May. And the Office of National Statistics is also using the deal for parts of its IT support.

Flex was initially brokered to provide, support and manage the Cabinet Office’s 2,500 desktops. But the same deal is available across the public sector, and as more organisations sign up, the price will drop for everyone.

Speed and price were central to Dius’ decision to use the framework rather than go it alone, said chief information officer (CIO) Karen Delafield.

“Because we are a new department we needed to do something quickly. We were also keen to support the cross-government shared services initiative,” she said.

“Flex offered us an easy procurement route – about four months rather than the standard nine- to 18-month process.

“And our indicative figures suggested the price is about 25 per cent less than other departments are getting,” she said.

Flex is the first standalone shared services programme to be set up since the launch of the Transformational Government strategy in November 2005. It is also part of plans to cut public sector IT costs by 20 per cent.

“If an organisation can’t beat the quality of the service for the price on offer, then it should join up,” said Whitehall CIO John Suffolk. “We have no axe to grind, but if what we have on offer is available for others to use then why would they want to reinvent the wheel?”

Early wins, particularly with large departments, are a big breakthrough for the strategy, according to Eric Woods, government practice director at analyst Ovum.

“The rationalisation of IT provision, particularly for smaller departments, has few potential downsides,” he said.

“What remains to be seen is the ability to deliver on the quality and adaptability that those organisations need.”