By Lucy Phillips
2 March 2011
Government IT is locked in a ‘vicious circle of failure’
that costs £16bn a year, a leading think-tank has warned today.
A report from the Institute for Government says that,
despite the vast sums of money spent on computer technology, the government is
failing to get the basics right and falling further and further behind hi-tech
advances. This has resulted in ‘billions
in wasted money and time’.
The report System error: fixing the flaws in government IT is based on interviews with 70
Whitehall IT insiders, suppliers and external experts.
It says cancelled projects such as the £5bn National
Identity Scheme and £12.7bn national NHS programme show government IT ‘remains
in an outdated model which attempts to lock project requirements up-front’ –
not taking into account changing political priorities and unpredictable developments
in technology.
Projects then proceed at a ‘glacial pace’, with the average IT
procurement process taking 77 weeks, the reports says.
The think-tank calls for a ‘radical re-think’ of the
government’s IT strategy ending expensive long-term contracts that lock in
public funds. The new approach should be ‘agile’, meaning projects respond to
change as they are developed through user feedback, and ‘platform’, meaning
elements are simplified and shared Whitehall-wide.
Andrew Adonis, director of the IfG, said: ‘If a new approach
to IT in government is not now put into practice, this will risk further
haemorrhaging of public money. This report shows there is a better way that is
more flexible and allows for the fact that government priorities continuously
shift.’
