MPs demand transparent government IT projects

MPs are calling for much greater openness on government IT projects to prevent an 'appalling waste of public money and distress caused to thousands of people'.

The Work and Pensions Select Committee is recommending that the business case for each IT project should be published, and criticises Whitehall departments for 'hiding behind the cloak of commercial confidentiality and refusing to provide legitimate information about IT projects.'

'There is no reason why major public IT projects costing millions of pounds should not be subject to the same open scrutiny that applies in other areas of public life,' says the Committee's report.

'Parliament and the public should not be required to wait years after the planning decisions were made or problems emerged before they can get a detailed account of what has gone wrong,' it says.

The new Child Support Agency system is singled out for criticism, with a suggestion that the 'over-spec, over budget and overdue' IT could be abandoned unless it is soon fully operational.

The Committee's report follows an eight-month inquiry into the £4.25bn IT modernisation programme at the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP). Computing was one of a number of expert witnesses asked to provide evidence to the inquiry (Computing, 19 February).

'Government has produced a mountain of guidance to encourage successful IT projects, but there's no way for Parliament or the public to know whether it's being followed - until the IT fails and then it's too late. There is an urgent need for more transparency,' said Committee chairman Sir Archy Kirkwood, MP.

The Committee says that poor IT systems are caused by a lack of compliance to best practice, and by focusing too much on technology rather than business transformation.

'Openness and accountability are vital tools in ensuring compliance with best practice. DWP should be significantly more open about its IT projects,' says the report.

The Committee suggests that Whitehall buying arm the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) be given more power to impose recommendations made during the Gateway project review process.

'OGC has had an important influence on best practice, particularly since the introduction of its Gateway Reviews. However, too many of its recommendations are optional. It needs greater powers to enforce best practice, and should insist on greater transparency,' says the report.

Other recommendations in the report to the DWP include:

* The introduction of an independent, publicly available, continuing 'Concept Viability' for all major IT projects

* Before contracts are signed, IT programmes should involve key stakeholders in the analysis of how business processes will be changed

* An implementation assessment should be produced for each major IT project

* A set of recognised professional qualifications for IT project management should be produced through discussion with the OGC, the Royal Academy of Engineering, the British Computer Society and IT trade association Intellect.

* Ministers should give more priority to committing time and resources to managing the cultural aspects of major IT programmes

* At least 20 per cent of the budget of any major IT project should be spent on examining business processes and putting the necessary organisational systems in place before new computer systems are introduced

* Detailed information about how risks are to be managed in major IT projects should be made available to Parliament before contracts are signed.

* A set of guidelines should be developed for increased access to information on IT contracts

* The OGC should undertake a review by 1 July 2005 of the effect of implementing in the UK the US Clinger-Cohen statutory framework governing IT projects - although the report also states that the Committee is 'not convinced that a statutory basis is currently required in order to increase compliance.'

Gateway reviews should be published or the government shoul d set out how Parliament can be provided with sufficient information needed to scrutinise questions of value for money from major IT contracts

The DWP will respond to the Committee's report later this year.