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The 2010s saw a cultural shift in the UK public sector to adopt 21st century approaches to the commissioning and delivery of digital public services. However, we seem to have taken our foot off the pedal in the 2020s.
We have seen a return to the large-scale technology acquisition approach that the Public Administration Select Committee reported on in the 2011 report. Government and IT: “a recipe for scams” – time for a new approach. IT contracts are being awarded to a few large companies and there is less commitment to small and medium-sized companies that can provide a broader range of knowledge and experience. Fast forward to 2024, and the Eighth Annual Report of the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee notes that “the government must find cost-effective ways to update its IT systems, especially considering the high human and monetary cost of errors.”
Indeed, a high human cost; The Post Office-Horizon scandal is a stark warning to everyone. What we build, how we build it, and who builds it are important decisions with real-world consequences.
When we outsource our national digital public infrastructure through large IT consultancies, we create the conditions for the next Horizon. Furthermore, we will not be able to harness the full potential of the transformation of digital public services.
So what should we do about it?
1. Focus on the value delivered
While there is value in ensuring a fair market price for contracted services, we must also focus on ensuring we offer maximum value for any costs incurred.
Purchasing a large project from a “cheap supplier” means losing control over the result. No money is saved by hiring less expensive and less skilled people if the service provided is not fit for purpose, takes longer to build and costs more to operate.
2. Empower leaders who focus on people, not processes
I have a lot of respect for the digital and technical people who are working hard to transform services. However, there are not enough of them and we have recently seen a high level of turnover in public administration leadership with a corresponding loss of institutional experience. This was reported in a recent report that evaluates digital transformation in government.
People create technology and multidisciplinary teams are the execution unit. Public officials must have skin in the game rather than being tasked with providing remote governance of third-party delivery. Government departments must continue to select experienced service owners and give them control over scope, spend and outcomes. Empower them to create multi-disciplinary, values-focused teams with the ethos of “Make it work, not just do it.”
3. Expand the supplier base
The government must commit to broadening the supplier base by reducing the size of contracts and supporting a simple, open and fair procurement process that identifies the right partners, with the right skills, for the right projects. You must commit to common standards and enforce their adoption, ensuring that digital investments prioritize interoperability, incentivize reuse, and commoditize where possible. Collaboration between suppliers should be encouraged.
These changes would empower public officials to improve the quality of outcomes and increase service resilience, supported by an ecosystem of smaller providers that review each other's work. Otherwise, there is a risk that large suppliers will escape scrutiny.
4. Think bolder and better, not bigger
Accessing a broader market and committing to focused hiring doesn't have to mean smaller-scale ambition. By thinking bigger and bolder, and working with incredible UK talent, departments can harness innovation to tackle complex challenges – my colleague Oliver Cronk outlines the key foundations for innovation in the video on this page.
Bold investments in technology position governments as pioneers, improve citizen services and drive long-term prosperity for all.
The best way to create good services is to start small and iterate.
Those words are not mine. I am quoting from Government Design Principles, first published in 2012, which laid the foundations for the UK to develop world-leading digital public services. They are as true today as ever and support the argument I have made here. You don't build good services by ceding control of large-scale delivery to a few large companies. To create good services, identify user needs and start small, iteratively shaping services with a relentless focus on the value to be delivered.
The principles also say: “Making things open: makes things better.” However, handing control of large-scale delivery to large consultancies reduces transparency, weakens governance and increases the risk of supplier lock-in. There is a clear alternative that would foster a better trained public administration capable of managing more resilient services: opening up procurement and working with a wider range of suppliers on smaller projects in multidisciplinary teams. This is the way to deliver more value to citizens, return UK digital government services to their world-leading status and avoid another Horizon.
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