The UK government is to increase procurement and programme delivery training for civil servants in a bid to cut the failure rate of major IT projects.

Peter Gershon, chief executive at the Office of Government Commerce, told vnunet.com that civil servants will be trained in professional procurement and managing strategic supplier relationships.

"We have some very good people in the civil service, but their skills need a boost," he said.

Gershon explained that an early priority will be improving the management of contracts throughout their duration.

"We need people who can manage long-term service provision contracts after they have become operational," he said.

"There is a recognition that this is an area where we have to strengthen our skills and make sure that value for money continues to be achieved throughout a project."

IT project failures and cost over-runs have landed the government with a bill of around £1bn in the last five years.

Sir Andrew Turnbull, Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Home Civil Service, admitted that project commissioning had been a weakness, and that senior civil servants need to be encouraged to follow projects through to completion.

"Performance pay and bonuses will play a bigger part, as will rewards based on the success of projects," he said.

Turnbull added that people with good project delivery skills will get a higher profile.

"If you look at the management board of any agency, how many of those people have commercial and delivery skills? That will change over time," he said.

IT solutions provider CMG will offer a managed training service for civil servants involved with project procurement and delivery under a three-year contract.

The company will evaluate training from providers including Parity, Xansa and the Civil Service College.

At the moment government agencies decide on their own training, but this should provide standards.

The new service will increase the levels of e-learning, and will include a 'skills passport' website to help civil servants keep track of their development.

Andrew Kouloumbrides, national director at CMG, said: "Part of the problem is that civil servants often head up projects in areas about which they may know very little, such as construction and technology.

"This makes it difficult for them to accurately assess how the project is progressing and whether the goalposts can and should be moved."