23 July 2004
Government departments must stop hiding behind the cloak of commercial confidentiality so that Parliament and the public know the true cost of failing IT projects, a cross-party committee of MPs said this week.
Highlighting the huge amounts of taxpayers' money wasted by departments on defective IT schemes – as well as the human cost of distress caused to clients – the Commons' work and pensions select committee demanded big changes.
Looking specifically at IT within the DWP and the Child Support Agency, the committee's report, published on July 22, calls for much greater openness across all departments.
Ministers should publish a business case for each project, it says, and the Office of Government Commerce should have its powers beefed up to ensure its rules on best practice are adhered to.
Many of the OGC's recommendations on best practice remain optional but this should no longer be the case, says the hard-hitting report. 'Failing IT systems are an appalling waste of public money and cause distress to thousands of people,' said committee chair Archy Kirkwood. 'There's an urgent need for more transparency and for the OGC's powers to be strengthened.'
Some £12.4bn is spent each year by the public sector on IT projects with a 'significant proportion at risk of being wasted', says the report. The committee found that since 2001 the DWP alone has spent more than £4bn on IT.
MPs did acknowledge, however, that problems with IT projects plague both the public and private sectors, quoting research that found that just 16% of projects globally meet all their deadlines. Completion rates can be even lower for projects worth more than £10m.
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