Gartner vice president: Governance and politics harming public sector efficiency

Kost’s a public sector IT veteran, having served as the first CIO of the US State of Michigan (the first ever state-level CIO for that matter) in the early and mid-1990s. Couple that with his time at Gartner, and he’s more than capable to talk about the challenges facing public sector CIOs on both sides of the Atlantic. His group VP role at the market analysts means he overlooks a group of analysts tasked with providing research tailored specifically for CIOs, and in the past he’s written ‘toolkits’ on IT aptitude and the role of CIOs in the public sector.

 

Governance, governance, governance 

Since we’re sat in a coffee shop in central London during a period of pre-election and pre-budget speculation on the future of public sector services, it’s perhaps inevitable the first topic of conversation is the government’s National Programme for IT. “The biggest problem with the NPfIT, setting aside the ambitiousness of the programme,” explains Kost, “is its governance model; it’s untenable. You have so many decision makers that getting them to agree is nearly impossible.”

 

The situation isn’t better when he looks in his own back-yard, describing the US healthcare system as being in a state of “pure chaos.”

 

“The situation is far more complex in the United States; you have multiple healthcare companies, Medicare, Medicaid…but that’s not to suggest it’s completely broken.”

 

The subject of governance in public sector IT development and procurement is one that’s evidently close to Kost’s heart; he later cites Canada as an example of a country where governance at the top tier of government is working well “[though] they have a lot more potential to achieve.” Are there any other countries aside from the United States’ neighbour exemplifying good governance? Yes, Singapore he says lightly chuckling, “though as it’s a dictatorship, it’s working with a different political model.”

 

My meeting with Kost takes places a few weeks after Government CIO, John Suffolk published his “Government ICT Strategy” report, which outlined plans for increased efficiency, shared services, and the G-Cloud. Despite agreeing plans in the report can be realistically achieved (“The Cabinet Office has correctly identified places like database consolidation”), Kost argues poor governance is stopping it. “I like what the Cabinet Office is trying to do, but I remain sceptical it will be done unless governance is fixed.”

 

He also says that plans by the Tories to increase the power of the Government CIO would work, “if it fits into an appropriate governance model,” Kost says before adding, “The government CIO needs to have the power of veto.”

 

He relates to the situation in the UK to Australia, where in his 2008 report Sir Peter Gershon spoke about the need for improved pan-governance from Canberra, as well as agency governance. “The net result of the finance minister himself has taken a lot more interest in the power of IT.”

 

“What makes a difference is the CIO’s power in Australia; [however] her power alone cannot deliver the results of the Gershon report,” he continues, before dryly adding, “[But] that’s true for every national government, excluding Singapore.”

 

In the United States, the federal government headed by Barack Obama has made moves to improve ICT governance, and appointed some clever people, but Kost almost dismisses their appointments, referring to them as advisors. Part of the problem facing the federal government across the pond, Kost explains, is that the departments in Washington DC are fixed in law. “The money a government department gets comes from a specific committee of Congress that doesn’t want to give up their power.” For Kost, the impetus has to come from a state and local level, and relates it to his time CIO in the American automobile industry’s home state of Michigan, “When I was CIO of the state we got a lot done.”

 

CIO of the US industrial  heartland 

Kost was CIO of Michigan between 1992 and 1996, and oversaw the laying of foundations that have subsequently seen the state’s government become massively efficient, and arguably the envy of its 49 sisters. His successors in Michigan’s state capital of Lansing have implemented a series of initiatives, including the creation of a Department of Information Technology. “The State has saved a lot of money on a huge scale,” Kost says. “The problem they’re facing is that departments don’t always feel they’re in control of their own destiny. That’s the perception, but not necessarily the reality.”

 

The creation of the state’s Department of IT in 2001 was well-timed, allowing Michigan to roll out efficiencies during a decade when economic recession arrived in the US, and the automobile industry suffered after the 9/11 attacks in New York City and Washington DC. So his decision to begin efforts to improve IT governance and efficiency in Michigan wasn’t reactive to an economic downturn in the state? Quite the opposite says Kost.

 

“At the time we started the efforts, Michigan was flush with cash; the governor tasked me with consolidation,” he says. Even now, as the global economy continues to wrestle with the aftermath of the worst recession for decades, the state isn’t resting on its laurels – and would sound familiar to Mr Suffolk in the Cabinet Office. “What Michigan is doing right now is currently doing a tendering process to find out can we create a state cloud infrastructure…”

 

If Palo Alto is the centre of private sector IT progression and innovation, it seems the state of Michigan is grasping the public sector initiative with both hands – and it has John Kost’s historical fingerprints all over it.