The launch of a new all-party group on outsourcing and shared services could offer a more objective assessment of the involvement of the private and third sectors in delivering public services
Throughout the public sector, outsourcing projects are becoming ever more pervasive – following on from the Open Public Services white paper, there has been a glut of local authorities and emergency services teaming up to take their IT and communications needs to the marketplace. Every day, a new announcement, a new tender document, a new relationship forged.
Yet it seems that the media pays most attention to outsourcing projects when they go wrong – government paying over-the-odds for PCs, data leakages in India, computers not being ready on the first day of a school term; these are the situations that capture the imaginations of editors, and subsequently, enter the public consciousness.
What of the gloriously successful cases? The projects that go largely unnoticed, as they quietly add value for all concerned – benefiting not just departmental budgeters, but internal stakeholders, and the all-important service users, all at the same time.
When it goes right, you never hear about it. And that is wrong. There is a need for increased knowledge-sharing of outsourcing successes and how they were achieved. And if it went wrong, why: what were the bad decisions? How could things have been done differently?
The new All-Party Group on Outsourcing and Shared Services addresses an urgent need. A need for an open forum where outsourcing successes and failures are analysed closely, by experts in the field, and findings are presented to government decision makers, and discussed in detail.
Despite the media hyperbole, the majority of government outsourcing projects bring about positive change, which leads to improved services and cost savings. But even projects that perform well can get better. When spending on behalf of the taxpayer, there needs to be a constant drive to be slicker, leaner, and more cost-effective.
Politicians and outsourcers will come together and pool their cognitive resources under the chairmanship of Bob Blackman MP. As well as members of the Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Labour parties, there will be representatives of every facet of the outsourcing industry, provided from the broad-ranging membership base of the National Outsourcing Association.
Our members’ remit is to showcase the methodology of their best practice, providing insights from projects that have been delivered on-time and achieved their objectives, such as improved services or cost savings. They will also get down to the nuts and bolts of projects that didn’t work, presenting candidly on what went wrong and why. This openness will help the government become a savvier consumer of outsourcing services.
Improving dialogue between the outsourcing industry and politicians is the raison d'etre of the group. Bringing an increased transparency to the interactions between outsourcers and Whitehall will help the government spend more wisely, and the outsourcers from the private sector add more value for their number one client.
A meeting is taking place today to collate the evidence that we will present to the All Party Group when it convenes in full. There is still time to send in evidence – if you have the inside track on an outsourcing project, that you think the group needs to hear about, contact: [email protected]
Martyn Hart is chairman of the National Outsourcing Association
