- The UK National Audit Office believes the government’s approach to technology providers needs centralized reform
- The current strategy costs taxpayers billions and leaves the UK’s infrastructure obsolete for three decades.
- The Public Accounts Committee has also weighed in, stating that government departments are not “intelligent customers”.
In alarming but unsurprising news given its attitude towards artificial intelligence, the UK government has been accused of mismanaging its technology procurement processes by failing to assess technical risks, leading to overinflated budgets affecting taxpayers and delays in implementation.
This is according to the latest report (PDF, via The Registry) of the National Audit Office, the UK’s “independent watchdog of public spending”.
Monitoring a number of projects, including the National Law Enforcement Data Service and the Universal Credit benefits system, the NAO now estimates that the cumulative cost of the projects has risen to more than £3 billion. and the UK has lost at least 29 years of modernisation.
UK Government Technology Spending Strategy
The NAO considers that the portfolio of project proposals until the award of contracts “[does] do not work well for digital programs,” citing the fact that “departments can present investment cases without a detailed assessment of technical feasibility,” along with a lack of guidance from central government to address the issue.
“This results in limited technical evaluation of contracts and technical risks are minimized,” the report continues. “Complexities that arise after contracts are signed may be too fundamental to address through a change control process. An ill-defined requirement and an overemphasis on acquiring the minimum requirement or the cheapest resource.”
The NAO also criticized the lack of recognition of “the complexities posed by the existing environment” and that pressure to deliver on projects is rushing the awarding of contracts.
Unsurprisingly, Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Parliament’s own spending watchdog, has agreed that the system needs to change.
“Digital business skills are in short supply,” he said, “and the government is not making the most of the limited experience it has. The government has mismanaged digital providers and the center of government has not provided guidance to help departments become smart customers. “.
Clifton-Brown also echoed the NAO’s call for a unified strategy to approach suppliers. “Without a more strategic approach from the center and a sourcing strategy that is fit for the digital age, the government risks wasting more money and squandering the opportunity to modernize the public sector.”
