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ICT procurement moves to the Cabinet Office in shake-up
Posted by admin on Wed, 16/06/2010 - 11:27
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The Cabinet Office is to assume responsibility for buying IT in government as the the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) and the public sector procurement agency Buying Solutions become part of the Efficiency and Reform Group (ERG).
The Efficiency and Reform Board, which guides the work of the ERG and is chaired jointly by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, and the Minister for the Cabinet Office Francis Maude, is also due to expand. Government efficiency adviser Sir Peter Gershon, Tesco executive director and career civil servant Lucy Neville-Rolfe and former Logica CEO Dr Martin Read will all join the board.
Maude said, “The changes I am announcing today will bring together our operational capability to form a single strong but streamlined group to drive efficiency across Government. By taking this really tough stance on inefficiency and waste, we can tackle Britain’s massive budget deficit and bring order back to the country’s finances, whilst protecting vital frontline services.
“Our new board members will be critical in making this happen. Sir Peter Gershon, Lucy Neville-Rolfe and Martin Read have varied business expertise combined with deep understanding of the unique challenges of government. They’ll be energetic and challenging, and I’m grateful that they have stepped up to offer their valuable service to the country.”
The move means that responsibility for all cross-government operational functions, including procurement, project management, IT and Civil Service workforce and reform functions, will now be in one place. According to the government: "The Efficiency and Reform Group will have a strong mandate at the centre of government to ensure departments work together to quickly tackle waste and improve accountability across all these areas."
Gershon, who will take the lead on procurement issues, commented: “Whilst tackling the budget deficit is a challenge, I am convinced that by bringing experts together and harnessing the talents of the public sector we can start to make improvements immediately. We will need to be creative and innovative in order to make a real difference and look at new ways of working.”
Read – who last year led a government review on back-office operations and IT across the public sector - added: "The long term health of the UK economy is critically dependent on securing value for money across the public sector. The Efficiency and Reform Group has a crucial role to play in ensuring that cost reduction becomes a fundamental management objective in the public sector and I look forward to supporting this initiative."
One of the ERG's first actions was to implement an immediate freeze on all new ICT spend above £1m and to embark on a review of each existing project on a case by case basis. In a written response to a parliamentary question from Labour MP Ian Wright, Maude confirmed this week: "The review of ICT projects will be followed by a contract renegotiation exercise which will be undertaken at supplier level and will focus on those suppliers who have the largest overall revenues from UK public sector contracts. Targets by contract have not been defined as each will need to be individually reviewed and negotiated."
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Comments
Will 'Small' ever be considered 'Cool'?
I wonder if smaller companies will be seen as 'Cool' by central government or still be seen as 'too risky' based on the negative propaganda from the big players?
Smaller companies have a fantastic track record in delivering huge ROI on relatively small projects. Maybe a deep analysis of the performance of SMEs in the public sector over the past 10 years would show the way forward?
Each public sector organisation, and each of their geographically and operationally diverse member organisations, should be free to contract their local experts to deliver bespoke business process solutions. The interfaces can be standardised to ensure interoperability. It's not re-inventing the wheel in each department; it's about implementing standards and bespoke processes in each area that will save the day.
Board membership
Are Efficiency and Reform Board members paid? How much?