Tag Archives: government procurement

First major Government mutualisation announced

Posted on 12/04/2011 | Leave a comment

Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude, has today announced plans for the mutualisation of the 400-strong My Civil Service Pension , which administers the delivery of Civil Service Pension schemes.

This will be the first major mutualisation of a central government service. Mutuals, as they are known, give employees a financial stake in a business whose ownership is shared between the public and private sectors.

The Cabinet Office is also considering the potential for offering a stake to 1.5 million pension scheme members. 

Maude said:  “Too often there’s been a binary choice between the Government providing a service itself, or outsourcing it to the private sector. These choices have historically been driven by a belief that services have to be controlled centrally – with a one size fits all approach that has left little room for innovation.

“We are looking for more innovative ways to structure services. We know that employees who have a stake in their business, or take ownership of it completely, have more power and motivation to improve the service they run. They can also benefit from partnerships with private or voluntary sector organisations which can bring in capital and expertise.

“For the private sector, which can no longer expect the generous margins of the past, tapping the talent of frontline staff to improve efficiency will be a priority. The state too can keep a stake so that taxpayers benefit from the rising value of an improved service.

“I’m impressed with entrepreneurial zeal of Phil Bartlett and his team at My Civil Service Pension. They are pioneering the mutual joint venture model and the Government is committed to ensuring they have they right support to succeed.”

Phil Bartlett, CEO My Civil Service Pension, said: ” By taking the opportunity to mutualise we can better acknowledge our people and their expertise – and access valuable additional resources and expertise in the private sector.

“This new and innovative structure will give us the agility to exploit opportunities in the changing pension landscape and grow our business, and the taxpayer will benefit from the increased value of an improved and more efficient service.”

Mutualisation is being supported by dedicated resource within the Cabinet Office. Earlier this month Maude announced that the entrepreneur and business leader, Stephen Kelly, has been appointed as the Crown Representative to support the creation of mutuals from existing service teams within central government departments.

He also announced the establishment of an Enterprise Incubator to help civil servants create successful enterprises from within central government, including employee and management teams who wish to form mutual companies under the Right to Provide previously announced by the Cabinet Office.

The Government is developing mutual models through the Mutual Pathfinder programme which is supporting 21 existing and potential mutuals with mentoring and advice from experts in employee ownership.

Every department will put in place ‘rights to provide’ giving staff new rights and support to form mutuals.

The Cabinet Office has appointed Professor Julian Le Grand to head the Mutuals Taskforce which will support staff interested in mutualising their service.

Links:

Government signs over civil service pensions to private sector mutual.

 FSA Mutuals public register.

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Cabinet Office’s chief projects troubleshooter – a good choice

Posted on 07/04/2011 | 3 comments

David Pitchford, who has been Executive Director of Major Projects within the Cabinet Office’s Efficiency and Reform Group, is to run the Cabinet Office’s Major Projects Authority which has the power to intervene in failing projects.

Last year Pitchford delivered what Lindsay Scott, co-director of Arras People, called an “amazingly frank assessment of the state of major projects within the UK Government”.

Pitchford said failures of government projects were because of:

– Political pressure
– No business case
– No agreed budget
– 80% of projects launched before 1,2 & 3 have been resolved
– Sole solution approach (options not considered)
– Lack of Commercial capability  – (contract / administration)
– No plan
– No timescale
– No defined benefits

The new Major Projects Authority is run as a partnership with the Treasury and approves projects worth more than £5m.  The Guardian reports that the Authority has an enforceable mandate from the prime minister to oversee and direct the management of all large scale central government projects.

It will be able to:

– tell departments if there is a need for additional assurance

– arrange extra support for a project

– take disputes or problems to ministers.

Departments will be required to provide an integrated assurance and approval plan for every project at its inception. The MPA will approve these before the Cabinet Office and Treasury approves projects, and run an assurance process at key stages to assess whether they are on course to deliver on time, within budget and to the required quality.

It will also compile a portfolio of major projects, reporting on them once a year, and work with departments to improve their skills in the management of projects and programmes.

Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude said the Authority is being set up to improve government’s poor record on project delivery.

“The MPA will work in collaboration with central government departments to help us get firmer control of our major projects both at an individual and portfolio level,” he said. “It will look at projects from High Speed Two (for London to Scotland rail services) to the Rural Payments Agency’s ICT system.”

Comment:

Pitchford’s increasing influence on major projects within the Cabinet Office is welcome, especially after the departures of some other reformers who include John Suffolk and Andy Tait.

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12 “agile” principles

Posted on 07/04/2011 | Leave a comment

By Tony Collins

The  principles (below), which are largely managerial,  highlight the challenges for government departments and suppliers of adopting agile principles for major IT-related projects such as Universal Credit.

Some in government have said that agile can deliver systems to support political policy quickly, say within two years –  but that’s far too long. Under agile principles, working systems should be delivered between two weeks and two months.

 I particularly like the tenth principle, which defines simplicity as the art of maximizing the amount of work not done; in other words not gold-plating requirements.

The second principle is also especially important for government IT-enabled projects and programmes: it states that changing requirements are welcome, even late in development.

The principles are from the excellent website of project manager Robert Kelly.

12 Principles behind Agile
 
  1. Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.
  2. Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer’s competitive advantage.
  3. Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.
  4. Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.
  5. Build projects around motivated individuals.  Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.
  6. The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.
  7. Working software is the primary measure of progress.
  8. Agile processes promote sustainable development.  The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.
  9. Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.
  10. Simplicity –the art of maximizing the amount of work not done– is essential.
  11. The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.
  12. At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.

Kelly’s contemplation – Robert Kelly’s blog

The Institute foir Government recently produced some case studies from its System Error report.

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Government Dragon’s Den for SMEs?

Posted on 31/03/2011 | Leave a comment

By Tony Collins

The Cabinet Office is enabling SMEs to pitch ideas to civil servants on how they could save money or do things more efficiently.

The Cabinet Office says its Innovation Launch Pad is part of a series of measures to make it easier for SMEs to work for government.

SMEs can submit their business ideas until 22 April.

The best ideas will be picked by a community of civil servants and, “after intensive mentoring from some of Britain’s foremost entrepreneurs, those that demonstrate the highest impact will be invited to present their ideas at a ‘Product Surgery’  in the summer”, says the Cabinet Office.

Downing Street will also host a reception for those with the best ideas. The aim is to “stimulate new open competitions in Government markets in which these suppliers will be able to participate”.

Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude said:

“SMEs can offer Government more innovative, more flexible and more cost effective products and services, but we know they often find it difficult to bring their ideas to our attention.

“Through the Innovation Launch Pad, we will get better value for Government and support small business. Government needs more online engagement like this.”

Timetable:

28th March – 22nd April – Business Idea Submission Phase

During the first phase SMEs are invited to enter business ideas. Anyone who has registered will be able to comment on ideas submitted. SMEs will be able to modify their ideas at any time during the first phase in response to comments received.

23rd April – 29th April – Final Comment Phase

Time for comments on ideas submitted near the end of the submission window.  During the final comments phase no new ideas will be accepted.

2nd May-27th May – Voting Phase

Civil servants will vote on ideas using the voting options on the site.  Only those who have registered using legitimate, verified civil service email addresses can vote.

30th May – 1st July – Selection & Presentation Phase

The final selection of ideas will take place and mentoring will be undertaken with those SMEs submitting the best ideas. They will then work with the Cabinet Office’s team of volunteer entrepreneurs on preparing their final presentations for the Product Surgery.

July

Those ideas that demonstrate the highest impact will be invited to present their ideas at a Product Surgery in the summer. Downing Street will host a reception for those with the best ideas.

Links:

Innovation Launch Pad.

FAQs and the “How it Works” pages.

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Mutuals do things differently, unshackled by rules – Francis Maude

Posted on 17/03/2011 | Leave a comment

By Tony Collins

Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude has asked MPs to visit public sector sites that have created co-operatives to see how they have changed their ways of working.

He told a committee of MPs:

“I can point you to some fantastic ones where people are just thinking in sometimes tiny ways, ways of doing things differently, that deliver a better service for less money because they have thought about it.

“And they are not subject to some hierarchy and some set of rules that prevents them doing it. They just do it.”

Ian Watmore, permanent secretary at the Cabinet Office, told the same hearing of the Public Administration Select Committee, that he and his colleagues will be publishing a White Paper on proposed reforms. 

“I believe mutualisation will be a big part of that and it will enable the Government to deliver on the reforms that it has already set out and it will trigger new reforms as people come up with more innovative ideas at the front line,” said Watmore

Maude said that mutualisation will help to bring about massive decentralisation. “I would recommend, with the interest this Committee has, going and visiting some of these mutuals because the way in which they operate.”

The workers “do things fantastically differently”, added Maude.

The committee’s chairman, Conservative MP Bernard Jenkin told Maude that if he wanted to develop good examples of decentralisation, his intentions should be set out in a plan.   

Said Jenkin“If your plan is to develop supreme examples and really good examples of decentralisation and innovative ways of doing things, well then set that out, because having a plan is an act of leadership and without an act of leadership there won’t be change.” 

Maude replied that setting out a plan and processes could kill mutualisation. He said:  “When we started talking about how we are going to support mutuals, the first response was: ‘Well, we need to have a plan, a programme, and devise rights and systems and processes.’ And when I reflected on that, I thought, ‘I could not think of a better way of killing the idea dead.’

“… The right approach is to find people who want to do this and support them, and as they try and set up their cooperatives and mutuals find out what the blocks are.”

Kelvin Hopkins, a Labour member of the committee, asked Maude whether mutuals would be less accountable to Parliament. Maude’s replies appeared, in part, contradictory.

He said mutuals could turn out to be more accountable. But when Jenkin said later that decentralisation means a “stretching of the elastic bands of accountability in the traditional sense”, Maude replied:

“Yes, totally.”

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Francis Maude tells civil servants: try new things and learn from failure

Posted on 16/03/2011 | Leave a comment

By Tony Collins

Francis Maude, the Cabinet Office minister who’s in charge of reforming central government, has told MPs that “good organisations learn as much from the things that are tried and do not work as from the things that are tried and do work”.

His comments will give top-level support to those in the public sector who are seeking small budgets to experiment with, say, agile approaches to software development.  The agile principle of failing cheaply and quickly and learning the lessons is unconventional in the public sector.

Appearing before the Public Administration Committee, in its hearing on Good Governance and Civil Service Reform, Maude said:

“You need to have a culture-we do not have this yet-where people are encouraged to try new things in a sensible, controlled way; front up if they have not worked – not have a culture that assumes every failure is culpable, and for every failure there has to be a scapegoat – but actually make sure that if something is tried and does not work: 1) you stop doing it; and 2) you learn from the things that have been tried and what the lessons are.

“I do not think we are good at that … part of the reason for that is the sort of audit culture, where everything has to be accounted for to the nth degree.

“I think we waste a huge amount of time and effort in stopping bad things happening and the result is we stop huge amounts of potentially good things happening as well.”

Maude was critical of the way government takes huge risks on big projects but is hostile to innovation at the micro level. He said: 

“Government tends to be quite prone to take huge macro risks, but then at working level, at micro level, to be very risk averse and hostile to innovation.

“You do not often hear of someone’s career suffering because they preside over an inefficient status quo, but try something new that does not work and that can blot your copybook big time.”

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Innovative Swedish supplier wins first major NHS contract

Posted on 07/12/2010 | Leave a comment
By Tony Collins

IT market researcher Techmarketview reports that Swedish healthcare application specialist Cambio Healthcare Systems has won its first major contract with the NHS. The contract is outside the National Programme for IT, NPfIT.

“The deal with Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust whittles CSC and iSoft’s potential National Programme business down a little further,” says Tola Sargeant of Techmarketview.  The Trust says it chose Cambio, in part, because it’s an innovative company whose IT is good for integration.

Full story here.

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Cabinet Office bans talks on Government IT

Posted on 07/12/2010 | Leave a comment
By Tony Collins

Senior officials in the Cabinet Office have banned their colleagues from talking publicly about Government IT, which will stop reformers arguing the need for radical change.

Several officials in the Cabinet Office have spoken in public on the massive inefficiencies within Government administration. They have set out plans for reducing or cutting out widespread duplication of business processes and IT.  Now senior management at the Efficiency and Reform Group within the Cabinet Office has ordered its officials to stop speaking in public about matters relating to Government IT.

Although there is unanimity at the top of government on the need for major reform, there are some in the civil service who are not so comfortable with the coalition’s plans for change.

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Days of mega IT contracts are over – Minister

Posted on 07/12/2010 | Leave a comment
By Tony Collins
The Telegraph reports today that Francis Maude, the Cabinet Office minister, has told an audience of chief executives from 31 key government suppliers including BT, Hewlett Packard, IBM and CapGemini, that costly IT mistakes like the £12.7bn NHS national programme [NPfIT] would not be repeated. 

Contracts in future would be for cheaper, smaller and off-the-shelf systems, not expensive, bespoke software, he said.   “Government will no longer offer the easy margins of the past. We will open up the market to smaller suppliers and mutuals and we will expect you to partner with them as equals, not as sub-ordinates.  The days of the mega IT contracts are over.  We will need you to rethink the way you approach projects, making them smaller, off the shelf and open source where possible…”

Full story here.

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