Public sector IT spend review ordered
Government's Efficiency and Reform Group outline plans to shave £95m off public sector IT projects
Emergency surgery: George Osborne is expected to announce a raft of spending cuts and tax rises in tomorrow's budget
The Efficiency and Reform Group (ERG), the organisation spearheading the government’s £6.2bn efficiency-savings drive, has ordered a £95m spending review of all ICT projects being carried out by government agencies and departments.
Ahead of the government’s emergency budget tomorrow, ERG head Frances Maude has said each project will be scrutinised to see if it is cost-effective to continue or should be scrapped completely.
These reviews will then be followed up by a “contract renegotiation exercise” at supplier level, added Maude. “[It] will focus on those suppliers who have the largest overall revenues from UK public sector contracts.”
Clive Longbottom, service director at market watcher Quocirca, is hopeful the review will lead to a “more effective public sector IT platform.”
He said: “If it all works, then I believe that we will see IT within the public sector being far stronger, with better working relationships between public sector heads, systems integrators, vendors and outsourcing companies, leading to better value for money for citizens.”
News of the spending review comes nearly a month on from ERG’s announced freeze on all ICT project spend above £1m, and days before last week’s declaration that the government’s procurement arm, Buying Solutions, was to fall under its responsibility.
Fujitsu Services, who made it onto all three lots of the Buying Solutions framework, has welcomed the decision to bring the procurement body under ERG’s control.
In a statement to CRN, Michael Keegan, director of the UK government division at Fujitsu UK and Ireland, said: “It [will] bring together all the important areas within a government focused on addressing operational efficiencies across the public sector, and how we can all work together to help reduce the economic challenges the country faces.
“We look forward to working with Francis Maude and his team in the Efficiency and Reform Group and the key role that the ITC sector can play in helping meet the government’s goals.”