Parliament
Parliament

Government to review IT project process

Whitehall insists on fallback plans in the event of major problems

Gareth Morgan

The government is tightening up the processes used to monitor the implementation of public sector IT projects.

In future, IT projects will not pass the Gateway Review process unless they include fallback plans in the event of major problems.

Advertisement

Gateway Reviews are used to monitor projects at key stages to guard against failure, and are overseen by The Office of Government Commerce (OGC).

Speaking to the House of Commons Work and Pensions Select Committee, OGC chief executive Sir Peter Gershon said: "We have just revised and relaunched the Gateway guidelines, requiring a more rigorous inclusion of proven fallback arrangements."

An OGC spokesman claimed that it had always intended to update the guidelines, but that recent problems with the Inland Revenue's Tax Credit system had highlighted the need for change.

The Tax Credit system, run by EDS, was launched in April 2002. But problems resulted in huge backlogs of applications and the system is not expected to be fully back on track until March 2005.

The project missed the first three Gateway reviews - called zero, one and two - that cover essentials such as business justification and procurement strategy.

"The refresh was underway before the Tax Credit system went live," said the OGC spokesman. "We wanted more rigorous testing and fallback plans, and the Revenue's problems showed that we were on the right lines."

The Work and Pensions Committee is currently reviewing how it can ensure successful IT projects at the Child Support Agency.

Last year's roll-out of a £300m system, developed to support a new formula to calculate maintenance payments, suffered an 11-month delay.

  • Have your say
  • Send to a friend
  • Print
  • Digg
  • Reddit
  • Share

Tags:

Do you agree?

Further reading

SMEs urged to bid for Whitehall contracts

Office of Government Commerce looks at giving smaller firms a greater share of government contracts

EDS faces tax credits censure

System won't be up to speed until March 2005, says the NAO

Creaking tax IT system skipped safeguards

Revenue ignored key stages of review process designed to guard against failure

Related whitepapers

Related jobs

Most watched

Summit: Salesforce.com on SaaS and information overload

How web services contribute to data headaches

V3.co.uk weekly debrief, 13 Nov 09

This week we discuss the inaugural V3.co.uk Summit

Analysis and Reports

Remote access - Three steps to getting connected

3.4 million UK professionals now work from home – is your company equipped?

Cost benefits of a global collaboration network

This white paper is a must read for organisations looking for evidence of the bottom-line benefits of high-definition video and voice communications

Poll

Impact of Information Overload poll

Impact of Information Overload poll

What is the biggest problem your firm faces as a result of the data explosion?

View poll results

Advertisement

White paper library

Keep up to date with the latest products, services and technologies from the world's leading IT companies; IThound.com brings you over 6,000 white papers, case studies and analyst reports.

Advertisement

Newsletter signup

Sign up for our range of FREE newsletters:

Existing User

Newsletter user login:

Enter email address to edit your newsletter preferences

Job of the week

Search thousands of IT jobs :

Search thousands of IT jobs:

Advanced search

Hiring now on ComputingCareers:

Related IT jobs

Search thousands of IT jobs :

Search thousands of IT jobs:

Advanced search

Advertisement

Spotlight

V3.co.uk weekly debrief, 13 Nov 09

This week we discuss the inaugural V3.co.uk Summit

Fingers on keyboard

New Flash vulnerability discovered

Web sites could be vulnerable to Flash attacks

Chris Adams

Summit: Microsoft Office to the rescue

Chris Adams, Office Client product manager for Microsoft UK, explains...

Illegal downloader

Industry and human rights campaigners united in opposition to "three strikes" plan

Critics says government proposals to curb illegal downloading are unworkable...

Primary Navigation