The Department of Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) is
preparing to outsource its whole IT provision, despite the fact
that it is advertising for an IT director and has no clear IT
strategy.
Defra permanent secretary Brian Bender has admitted that it is a
high-risk strategy.
The House of Commons environment, food and rural affairs select
committee last month warned the department to postpone outsourcing
until it had devised an IT strategy and recruited an IT director.
Yet the contract is be advertised by the end of the year, with the
procurement process expected to last 14 to 18 months.
More than 850 jobs could be transferred to the private sector if
the proposals go through.
In January, the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) conducted a
strategic assessment of Defra's outsourcing proposal. It warned
ministers that it would be a very high-risk project and identified
a shortfall in skills and resources. It also called for Defra to
design a future IT architecture and recruit an IT director with
extensive experience of outsourcing.
The OGC report said, "Failure to put in place a strong commercial
team will result in a worse position than the status quo."
In June, Bender told the select committee that the department had
not yet recruited an IT director, prompting David Taylor MP, a
former IT professional, to warn that IT outsourcers "will eat you
alive".
Despite this, the department is pressing ahead with outsourcing.
Defra's IT strategy being developed as a priority, the management
board said.
"This will be completed well before any signature of IT outsourcing
contracts, so we are satisfied that we will be able to meet the
committee's concerns," an official report of the board meeting
stated.
Tony Lock, analyst at Bloor Research, said, "Before you go into any
service delivery process you have to have someone who understands
the needs of the organisation and where it is going. You have to
understand the problem before you can devise the solution."
Giga Group analyst Mike Dodd agreed. The Defra IT strategy must be
well developed before the Department goes to the market. In the
formal request for proposals, "Defra needs its objectives set down
in clear, well defined, measurable terms. If they aren't the
procurement could be heading for trouble."
The Department could face strong resistance from trade unions.
Marilyn Bayes, an official representing Defra IT staff in the PCS
union, said, "Defra senior management have little or no
understanding of IT. They regard IT as a simple service that can be
purchased from external suppliers like a cleaning contract."
The unions, she said, are arguing a business case for retaining
staff in-house staff and have not ruled out industrial action to
block the outsourcing.