200 million unaccountable in school's ICT procurement says new report Becta, the government agency which oversees ICT in schools is unable to account for over £200 million spent on software for schools according to a report published by open source supplier, Sirius Corporeation. Using data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, the report published by Open Source supplier, Sirius Corporation, also criticises what it says is a "'closed shop' mentality of Becta in their promotion of favoured suppliers and that this has resulted in the excessive spend and a distortion of the ICT market in schools". The report concludes that over two-thirds of the expenditure with accredited suppliers is impossible to track. However it says that it is clear that licenses and services supplied by global proprietary software vendors and a single hardware supplier account for 70% of all sales. Dr. John Spencer, Head of Education at Sirius Corporation and the author of the report said: “It is unacceptable that so much money should be spend so indiscriminately. “Becta appears to operate a closed shop of ICT vendors which is limiting innovation in schools.” Sirius Corporation is an European Open Source consulting, support and outsourcing group specialising in enterprise-ready Open Source software including connectivity, databases, email systems, file & print, directory service and cross-platform-authentication. Headquartered in the UK, Sirius' clients include blue-chip multi-nationals, UK public sector organisations and the European Commission. Related links to this article: Sirius Corporation The report is at this link Becta Finalists in the e-Government National Awards 2006 The Local Authority National Survey is now underway, asking all UK councillors and senior staff at the 467 UK Local Authorities their views and plans for 2007-8. The results identify Local Authority plans for investment in shared services to deliver the vision in the Local Government White Paper. Tickets are still available for the 17th Jan e-Government National Conference where the results will be announced. 89 finalists in 11 categories in the e-Government National Awards 2006 have been announced. The Awards recognise and praise the best strategies, achievements, teams and individuals in UK e-Government. Judging takes place shortly and finalists will be announced the first week of November. The Awards will be presented at a prestigious dinner at the Savoy in London on 17th January 2007. For details of booking seats at the dinner and conference please see this link. The Awards are supported by the Cabinet Office e-Government Unit, the Office of Government Commerce, the Society of Information Technology Management (Socitm), and SOLACE (Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers). Platinum sponsor is KPMG, and also a sponsor are SunGard and O2. This article comes from PublicTechnology.net http://www.publictechnology.net/ The URL for this story is: http://www.publictechnology.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=7165