Government ICT strategy aims to cut costs and boost governance

The government launched its ICT strategy yesterday, claiming that its plans, which are broader and more strategic than any previously announced, will save the government millions.

Deputy government CIO, and director of ICT strategy and policy, Bill McCluggage told Computing: “This report is focused on reducing costs, reducing project failure and building a common infrastructure to enable this.”

Cost reduction
McCluggage said several cost control measures that address spending are in place. For example, all IT spends worth more than £1m must go through the Efficiency and Reform Group in the Cabinet Office. The government has also committed to reducing spend on datacentres by 35 per cent within five years, with the help of the G-Cloud. And it has established a presumption against projects of more than £100m, with the report declaring that "the government will put an end to the oligopoly of large suppliers that monopolise its ICT provision”.

Governance
Most observers concede that there will continue to be a need for some big ICT projects, which means effective governance is a key priority.

Discussing the new strategy at a public accounts committee meeeting this week, chief operating officer of the Efficiency and Reform Group Ian Watmore said the majority of central government ICT spend is on specialist and bespoke systems, and some government systems will remain more complex than any in the commercial market.

“Within social security, for example, the systems have to reflect the complexity of legislation that has been created and added to over a number of years… There is nothing comparable in the private sector,” he said. 

Speaking at the same meeting, Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude said: “[Government ICT] is big, difficult territory. We need to be better at managing risk.”

With this in mind the government has created a Major Projects Authority that will manage every major intra-departmental project. This authority will be mandated to commission smaller and “agile” projects, with each department committing to one agile project per term.

To improve project oversight, the new strategy also stipulates that project leaders should stay in post until an appropriate break in the life of a project. 

Common infrastructure
The government is also addressing ICT governance by appointing a director of ICT futures, who will oversee regular meetings with the departmental CIOs. According to McCluggage , the director will be responsible for the G-Cloud, an applications store, an asset inventory, open standards and use of more open source technology.

McCluggage said that the director will also be responsible for "implementing new ways of designing and developing systems using agile methods and skunkworks environments; and maintaining a horizon scan of future technologies and methods".

The G-Cloud will help address the challenge of datacentre overcapacity, he said, while the lack of re-use and adaptation of systems will be addressed by the applications store, and by the proposed asset inventory.

The strategy also aims to establish open standards to help with interoperability and cross-departmental integration.

McCluggage said that the first open standards are under consultation. “In practical terms the first standards are likely to be in place this summer,” he said.
 
Procurement
The strategy also seeks to make ICT procurement simpler, cheaper and open to smaller suppliers. The government has committed to getting 30 per cent of its IT from SMEs.

Watmore said in the committee meeting that the procurement pre-qualification questionnaire will be abolished – it required three years worth of supporting accounts, so preventing start-ups from applying. The government has also launched an online portal called the Innovation Launch Pad to allow SMEs to pitch ideas directly to government on how to deliver better value.

BCS chief David Clarke broadly welcomed the strategy. “We welcome two key points in particular. The commitment to move away from mainly very large ICT projects and the move to develop an increasingly senior and skilled workforce within government to improve and fully exploit government use of ICT,” he said. 

The National Outsourcing Association welcomed the commitment to “bring down public sector ICT oligopoly”. NOA chief executive Martyn Hart said: “The announcement is further evidence of the government’s determination to open up the procurement process to suppliers of all shapes and sizes, and ensure that the public sector achieves the best possible service from its suppliers.”