IT chiefs issue e-government guidelines

IT chiefs at some of the UK's top firms have joined forces to produce a framework to help public sector managers deliver on Whitehall's e-government agenda.

Blue chip user group BuyIT has issued a blueprint for successful e-government, drawing together e-business expertise from leading companies including Reuters, Rolls-Royce and Taylor Woodrow.

The framework is designed to help public sector IT managers tackle issues like back-office integration and online transactions, explained BuyIT chief executive Frits Janssen.

"Public sector reforms, delivering better services for less money, can only succeed if the key principles of e-business are applied. Our framework provides a real opportunity to share best practice at an operational level," he said.

John Oughton, chief executive at Whitehall buying arm the Office of Government Commerce, welcomed the framework. "There is a need aggressively to address transactional costs," he said.

The work of BuyIT is intended to complement other e-government initiatives. The Office of the e-Envoy, which leads the development of electronic public services, has recently published the latest version of its e-Government Interoperability Framework (e-Gif).

E-Gif is a mandatory set of policies and standards to which public sector bodies must adhere, ensuring that information can flow seamlessly across the public sector.

The Office of the e-Envoy has awarded a £1.2m contract to the National Computing Centre (NCC) to run its e-Gif accreditation centre, which will benchmark compliance with the standard.

"This is a positive step in enhancing the quality and reliability of government computing," said NCC chief executive Michael Gough.

The accreditation centre opens this autumn.