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Information technology (IT) plays an increasingly central role in providing major public services. In November 2005, Transformational Government, Enabled by Technology set out the Government's strategy for delivering IT-enabled public services, which alongside a drive for greater efficiency in the way services are provided, calls for public services to be designed around the needs of the citizen or customer, not the provider. To achieve this vision, the Government is spending about £12-14 billion a year on new and existing information technology and related services to deliver improvements in key areas such as health, education, and law and order. Central civil government has a portfolio of some 120 mission critical or high risk IT-enabled programmes and projects, each of which faces different challenges. The risks are high and, given a history of past failures, government departments need the structures and management processes to secure greater success in IT-enabled programmes and projects.
The Cabinet Office's Delivery and Transformation Group (formerly the e-Government Unit) and the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) help support departments in delivering IT-enabled change. The Delivery and Transformation Group is responsible for formulating IT strategy and policy, promoting best practice and undertaking departmental Capability Reviews to target underlying issues that affect delivery. The Office of Government Commerce works with departments to help them improve efficiency, gain better value from suppliers, and improve programme and project delivery. The Office of Government Commerce is also responsible for the Gateway Review process. A new Major Projects Review Group in HM Treasury will provide additional scrutiny in the stages up to contract award. With this division of responsibilities across Whitehall, it is important that roles are clear and activities co-ordinated.
The National Audit Office, on the basis of 24 case studies of successful IT-enabled programmes and projects from both public and private sectors, has set out three common principles that underpin successful delivery:
- Ensuring senior level engagement.
- Acting as an intelligent client.
- Realising the benefits.
In the past in departments, board level engagment with major programmes and projects has been found wanting, resulting in a failure to identify and act on immiment risks to delivery. Departments have not always shown themselves to be intelligent clients, with poorly defined requirements and a lack of capacity to engage effectively with suppliers, and only a minority of programmes and projects have carried out final Gateway Reviews to determine if they have delivered the benefits they set out to achieve.
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General,[1] we took evidence from the Office of Government Commerce and the Cabinet Office on three main issues: the
importance of embedding the lessons from successful programmes and projects to drive up performance; the need to set standards for capacity and competence; and the value of candour in programme and project reporting.
Key terms used in this report are listed in the Annex in order of appearance.
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