SMEs and open source players championed in Tory manifesto

Conservative manifesto details plan to create a fairer and more open system for public sector IT procurement

David Cameron's manifesto accuses Labour of a "dreadful record" of managing IT procurement

The Conservative Party hopes to get more SMEs and open source specialists involved in public sector IT provision by publishing £10,000-plus tender documents online.

In their manifesto released this week, the Tories slammed Labour’s "dreadful record of managing [IT] procurement". A Conservative victory at the polls could see smaller channel players boosted by plans to publish tender documents worth more than £10,000 on the Supply2Gov web site. The party claims this will create a "level playing field for open source IT".

The Tories also pledged to tackle wasteful government procurement projects by giving the CIO a more active role to take increased control of government IT projects. The manifesto also outlines plans to appoint senior private sector non-executives to departmental boards to deliver better value for money.

Larger IT projects will be broken up into smaller components to give everyone a fairer chance.

Finally, the Conservatives are also planning to publish in full all government contracts for goods and services worth more than £25,000.