Government petitioned to abandon centralised IT projects

Petition says government should adopt incremental private sector approach

The e-petition is on the 10 Downing Street web site

An e-petition on the 10 Downing Street web site calling on the government to abandon centralised IT projects has received 199 signatures.

The petition, which has been in place for a week, says the failure of such projects is mainly the result of the nature in which they are procured and delivered, with commitments to all the requirements of a project made in advance of the work.

"The private sector has mostly moved away from this failed model to an incremental approach, which allows for changes in understanding and requirements and enormously reduces the chances of failure," says the petition.

"It's about time our government did too."

The government is coming under increasing pressure to cut the £12.7bn National Programme for IT (NPfIT) and the £5.4bn National Identity Scheme to reduce the deficit.

Chancellor Alistair Darling has already signalled cuts to the NPfIT and the signing of some contracts for the ID cards programme has been delayed until after the election.

The petition concludes: "We ask the prime minister to demand a review of current practices and look at adopting a more incremental and agile approach to government IT projects."