Government Cuts Corners in 2009, Trims down IT Budget

Government Cuts Corners in 2009, Trims down IT Budget

The UK government is relying on a reduced IT spending in 2009 in an effort to cut national budget amidst global financial crisis. CIOs at Whitehall are expected to amend IT acquisition contracts and regulate back office functions to hit the target savings of £7.2 billion. 
 

In the Operational Efficiency Programme (OEP) review, several ways were outlined to reach the targeted budget reduction. The review is anticipated to influence Chancellor Alistair Darling’s move to come up with the savings. 

 

The government is set to counter the references made by OEP ; however the people behind OEP’s review deems the savings to materialized by the end of the next spending period. OEP’s Martin Read encourages the government to initiate enhanced control over IT schemes to attain the £4 billion saving per year on back-office operations. Read further suggested that the government could bank up to £3.2 billion of IT budget through pursuing innovative ventures.  Among the recommendations cited were better data management, benchmarking and performance evaluation to gauge expenditures as well as regulation and simplification of IT throughout the public sector.

 

"Devolution of delivery can provide greater responsiveness in the provision of services, but unchecked proliferation of separate back office operations and IT systems and processes can and does lead to significant increased costs," Read stated in the report.



"This makes it difficult to establish trends, make comparisons and manage down costs. What is not measured well, will not be managed well."