The Cabinet Office has just closed a consultation on open standards for government projects. The questions asked are worth a read as it shows an encouraging level of enthusiasm for tackling a long-standing problem in government IT – vendor lock-in.
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Posts Tagged ‘Public sector procurement’
Government Open Data Consultation
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Motorways, Tolls and Panic
This morning (the 19th of March) the headlines were full of Prime Minister David Cameron’s comments that private cash is needed to ‘boost’ the road network. This prompted a large amount of praise, alarm, and speculation, depending on who was commenting. One thing is clear, however – people don’t seem to know how the road network is funded at the moment. It is worth noting that some of what people are worrying about already happens.
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Agile Development: Benefits and Challenges
It seems the whole world is going agile – agile development has been on the rise in the private sector for some time, and now the government is looking to make more use of agile in the public sector (see the previous blog “Agile Development Demands Agile Procurement” here).
Agile development has a number of attractions for organisations looking to procure or develop software-based systems. It can reduce the risk of a project ending in failure without a stable system to deploy after all the time, effort and money invested by the organisation. It provides early and regular visibility of system features and promotes the on-going involvement of business users. As it is an iterative process it can deliver useful business benefits and a return on investment at an early stage, and it can more readily adapt to changing requirements.
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Agile Thinking in Public Procurement
Shaun Davey, CEO at IPL, led a joint session on the challenges facing agile procurement with David Shields, MD of the Government Procurement Service at a Cabinet Office conference on 21st November. This opportunity arose from IPL’s work with the Crown Representative for SMEs.
Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude gave the keynote speech at this event highlighting the Government’s ambitious plans for a new agile relationship with suppliers of IT and FM services and solutions. This will be the first of an ongoing series of high-level engagements between Government and its suppliers.
Davey’s address posed a number of challenges for public procurement professionals, including:
- How to procure agile solutions which are, by definition, indefinite
- How to compare agile solutions on a like-for-like basis
- How to ensure active participation from supplier, client and other stakeholders
- How to empower agile client/supplier teams to make effective and rapid decisions
As a long-term supplier of IT services to government, IPL welcomes the change of approach which has real potential to benefit suppliers and government, given the commitment to early engagement with suppliers, reductions in the cost of bidding and increased access for SMEs.
The Cabinet Office and key government CIOs are providing leadership in this area – will the legions of government IT and procurement staff follow their lead? Will the big suppliers do more than tack “agile” onto every marketing message? Watch this space.
You can read more about Shaun’s thoughts on the challenges ahead here or read the latest Computer Weekly article on the challenges faced with Public Sector procurement involving Agile Development, with comment from Shaun.
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Agile Development Demands Agile Procurement
The Cabinet Office’s introduction of an ICT Strategy which, amongst other things recommends the wider adoption of agile methodologies in the development of public sector IT systems represents a sea change in government thinking.
This and the commitment to the use of a broader range of IT suppliers, through initiatives such as the SME agenda, are to be applauded. This change of mindset seems to indicate a genuine commitment to innovation, rather than a token change. Methods such as agile development can drive real efficiency gains in the public sector with commensurate reduction in government spending. (more…)
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