By Vivienne Russell | 21 October 2011
Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude has published details of how the government will save £1.4bn through better use of IT.
The move follows up the government's IT strategy, published in March. Its core objectives are to reduce waste and project failure, create a common government IT infrastructure and improve governance. Today’s implementation plan sets out how the strategy will be put into action.
Maude said: ‘This government is committed to delivering a better service to the taxpayer on government IT projects. Today’s Strategic Implementation Plan… gives a detailed breakdown of how the reforms this government is making to IT projects are going to be delivered.’
The plan includes specific delivery dates for each aspect of the strategy, as well as details of how it will be implemented in 19 different areas. Four sub-strategies are to be published over the coming weeks covering, among other things, cloud computing and IT capability.
Martyn Hart, chair of the National Outsourcing Association, said it was ‘about time the government got down to the “how” on its ICT strategy’.
But he added that the report did not go far enough and urged ministers to work with IT suppliers on cutting down ‘ridiculously long procurement times’.
Hart said: ‘It takes government at least 12–24 months to decide what they want, at huge cost to both themselves and potential suppliers. This is a major barrier to [small and medium-sized enterprises] getting involved, who simply do not have the resources to bid.’
