What does it take for central government to learn the
lessons from IT failure? If the report by MPs published last week
is correct, the Office of Government Commerce has been unable to
get the right messages across.
The Public Accounts Committee's report into the OGC's ability to
improve IT project management highlights a determined effort to put
things right through Gateway reviews and a series of best practice
and knowledge sharing schemes.
But it says that government departments are still not paying
sufficient attention to the OGC initiatives, particularly to
Gateway reviews.
The question is what will make these departments pay attention?
The answers, the MPs quite rightly say, are publicity and
money.
Computer Weekly has argued that only increased transparency and
public scrutiny of IT projects will lead to genuine accountability
in government IT projects and with it genuine prospects of
success.
MPs on the PAC have accepted our argument and are calling for
the publication of Gateway reviews. They also suggest the Treasury
could withhold funding for projects that ignore best practice.
Instead of bluster about how much IT project management has
improved in recent years, isn't it time ministers accepted the
committee's proposals?
With central government IT consuming £2.3bn a year, no one can
afford any more failure.