Tag Archives: innovation within government

Agile is brilliant says DWP’s head of major programmes

Posted on 17/06/2011 | Leave a comment

Steve Dover, head of major programmes at the Department for Work and Pensions, is qu0ted in Computer Weekly as saying of agile methods:

“It’s a brilliant, brilliant methodology … Get it right. Don’t pay it lip service.”

 Mark O’Neill, CIO at the Department for Communities and Local Government and leader of the government’s “skunkworks” team to promote innovation, is quoted as saying: “SIs [systems integrators – large IT companies] must recognise that the old world is dead and they have to change their model”.

But Malcom Whitehouse, DWP deputy CIO, implied there was some work only systems integrators could handle.

Agile can fix failed GovIT says lawyer.

Steve Dover on YouTube – the benefits of agile in GovIT [for the Institute for Government]

Cabinet Office turns to agile SMEs to reform Whitehall IT.

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Cabinet Office publishes SME action plans today – a good start.

Posted on 03/06/2011 | 1 comment

By Tony Collins

The Cabinet Office has today published SME “action plans” for each department.

It says the  reforms are “designed” – which is not the same as a commitment – to   “significantly open-up the public sector marketplace to small businesses”.

The new  plans support what the Cabinet Office calls an “aspiration” for the Government to spend  25% of its budgets on SMEs.

The actions range from:

  • breaking large contracts into smaller lots
  • working with major suppliers to increase SME access to sub-contracting opportunities
  • increasing the amount of information that is available to SMEs about contract opportunities
  • holding “product surgeries” for SMEs to pitch innovative ideas
  • piloting new procurement methods that are more open to SMEs.

Some of the documents published today could be more aptly  described as goodwill gestures to SMEs rather than  action plans.  Indeed, when read carefully, some of the action plans appear to be a civil service response to an unwanted ministerial decree.

HM Revenue and Customs, which is tied into an £8bn IT outsourcing deal with Capgemini, uses phrases in its SME action plan that are vague and non-committal, such as “build on the work done …”

These are some of the promises HMRC is making to SMEs:

– From June 2011, HMRC will develop and maintain information on its website relevant for SMEs. The information will include, but will not be limited to, signposting for SMEs to access relevant procurement details and how they can work with the Department. The Department will provide clear contact points for additional information and queries.

– Work with the 12 largest prime HMRC suppliers (representing c80% of 3rd party spend) to ensure they identify and engage with their own SME supply chains, including 3/4th level suppliers and agree actions (such as advertising suitable sub-contracting opportunities on Contracts Finder) with them to increase value of spend.

– Build on the work done on the recent open procedure procurement for Debt Collection Services …

– HMRC to consider appropriate procurements that are suitable for SME competition.

The Home office’s action plan is better, though.  It says it will:

– review forthcoming procurements and develop standardised processes and procedures to remove barriers to SMEs. “This will ensure the method used is as SME friendly as possible for the contract on offer.”  By June 2011.

Alongside publishing the action plans the Cabinet Office is creating a central team, Government Procurement, which will contract for widely-used goods and services for the whole of Government at a single, better price.

This, says the Cabinet Office, will end the “signing of expensive deals by individual departments” and “end poor value contracts such as those where government departments and agencies paid between £350 and £2,000 for the same laptop and between £85 and £240 for the same printer cartridge from the same supplier”.

Central procurement of common items is expected to save more than £3bn a year by 2015 – 25% of the Government’s current annual spending on these items.

Francis Maude says the Government is on track to have saved more than £1bn from tighter spending on discretionary goods and services including consultants and agency staff in the last year.

“Changes to make Government contracts more accessible to SMEs have already led to one not-for-profit SME successfully undercutting larger competitors and winning a £1.6m contract to provide office support services to HM Revenue and Customs,” says the Cabinet Office.

Maude said:

It is bonkers for different parts of Government to be paying vastly different prices for exactly the same goods. We are putting a stop to this madness which has been presided over for too long. Until recently, there wasn’t even any proper central data on procurement spending.

“So, as Sir Philip Green found, major efficiencies are to be found in Government buying. The establishment of Government Procurement means that the days when there was no strategy and no coherence to the way the Government bought goods and services are well and truly at an end…

“We are also determined to press ahead with measures to create a more level playing field so that small organisations and businesses can compete fairly with bigger companies for Government contracts. SMEs can provide better value and more innovative solutions for Government and the actions set out today will support their growth as the economy starts to recover.”

The Cabinet Office says that greater use of the ‘open’ procurement procedure  has increased by 12% across the public sector between March and April alone, helping to ensure that all suitable suppliers have their tender proposals considered.

And following the Innovation Launch Pad, five further Dragons’ Den style ‘product surgeries’ are planned so that innovative SMEs can pitch their proposals directly to Government.

The Government bought £66bn  of goods and services in 2009/10. An Efficiency Review by Sir Philip Green, which was published in October 2010, found that the Government had not made the most of its size, buying power or credit rating.

Green wanted the mandation of “centralised procurement for common categories”.

Are officials undermining ministerial plans to boost SME work?

There is some evidence emerging, however, that the civil service is misinterpreting ministerial will and standardising contracts by taking work away from SMEs and putting it with a few large companies. Campaign4Change will be looking at this in coming weeks.

We also hope this will be investigated by the new Government Procurement team which will be headed byGovernment Chief Procurement Officer, John Collington.

Link:

Home Office SME Action Plan.

HMRC SME Action Plan

All departmental action plans.

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Alpha.gov.uk shows how agile can work in government

Posted on 02/06/2011 | 2 comments

By Tony Collins

Harry Metcalfe, managing director of Dextrous Web, has written an excellent article on Alpha.gov.uk.

Alpha.gov.uk is a prototype, built in response to some of the challenges laid down in a report by Martha Lane Fox last year. The two main objectives of Alphagov are to:

– test, in public, a prototype of a new, single UK Government website

– design and build a UK Government website using open, agile, multi-disciplinary product development techniques and technologies, shaped by a preoccupation with user needs.

It’s clear from Metcalfe’s post that he  understands the unbending ways of government. He sees the opportunities too. He says:

“As a technical solution, this [Alphagov] is brilliant. If you’re going to have a single [web] platform, this is the right kind of platform to have, because it embraces change.

“If you want some new functionality, add an app for it. If you need a new department, add a new instance of the department app, add your content, and you’ll have 90% of what you need.

“If you want to run a consultation using someone’s third-party tool, just have them brand it appropriately and write an app that gives you as much integration as you want, or as the tool can support. But this kind of flexibility is powerful. In many respects it’s anathema to the way government works.

“For a start, it requires something government unwisely gave up on long ago: an in-house development team…”

Campaign4Change comment:

Alphagov is not yet handling transactions. Indeed there are no agile-developed systems that handle passport applications or tax self-assessment.

As Metcalfe says: “…transactions are complicated, messy beasts, unavoidably bound up with business processes and legislation; empires, politics and entrenched positions; long contracts and vast sums of money.. it’s not primarily a technological problem. It’s a process problem, and those are much harder to fix.”

It may be a matter of time, though, before agile becomes far more prevalent in public sector IT. Universal Credit is based on agile, in a programme run in part by the redoubtable Joe Harley, the UK Government’s CIO.

Harley told the Public Accounts Committee last month:

“In the waterfall it takes quite a while to do a design – maybe a year or two … By the time we come to execute, things have moved on.

“In the agile world, it is a way of providing rapid solutions very quickly. Normally, and in Universal Credit it is monthly, one designs, develops, implements and produces a product very early on in the cycle. It is particularly useful and appropriate when the users themselves – in the universal credit, citizens themselves – can participate in the creation of it. It is about user-centric, rapid deployment solutions. That is what we hope to achieve.”

Ian Watmore, Chief Operating Officer at the Cabinet Office, told the same committee that the government objective is for the first claims under Universal Credit to be paid by October 2013. He said: “I would have thought that if we achieve that, it will become the precedent and benchmark for Government projects.”

We hope Universal Credit is a timely success and that it becomes a benchmark for government projects. It’s easy to talk down the chances of agile in government on the basis that it ill suits the way government works. But Francis Maude, officials in the Cabinet Office, and Alphagov’s developers want to change the way government works.

To say that agile won’t work in government is like telling someone who’s obese that they need not eat less because history shows they won’t be able to.

Government must spend less. And agile is one way to cut spending. Alphagov is showing the way.

How Alpha.gov.uk came about:

Last year Martha Lane Fox published suggestions on reforming UK Government’s online. At the launch of her report (subtitled “revolution, not evolution”) she recommended:

“…Putting the needs of citizens ahead of those of departments”

She made a strong case for the UK Government to adopt a single web domain, analogous to the BBC’s use of BBC.co.uk, and recommended a radical change in how gov.uk sites are produced:

“Government should take advantage of the more open, agile and cheaper digital technologies to deliver simpler and more effective digital services to users.”

Links:

How Alphagov might change UK government for the better.

Institute for Government: what’s wrong with government IT?

Agile in government IT – don’t knock it.

10 things Alphagov gets right.

10 things Alphagov gets wrong.

Alpha.gov.uk

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Agile in Government IT – don’t knock it

Posted on 20/05/2011 | 1 comment

By Tony Collins

Alistair Maughan, a lawyer who specialises in large ICT projects, argues that agile won’t work in government ICT.

“The Government ICT strategy had some good ideas. Agile project management isn’t one of them,” says Maughan in a cogent and informed blog post for Computer Weekly.

I asked the Institute for Government to respond to Maughan’s comments. The Institute advocates agile in its report System Error: Fixing the flaws in government IT.

My thanks to Jerrett Myers, a senior researcher at the Institute, who has written the piece below, in response to Maughan’s comments.

Agile government ICT – a question of innovation

Like any management innovation, there are plenty of challenges in adopting an agile approach, but fortunately none are insurmountable.  The innovation guru Everett Rogers outlines a series of factors that influence the rate of adoption of an innovation – in effect setting out a test for how likely it is for an innovation to be implemented.

The first is test is the relative advantage of the innovation – the degree to which a new way of working is perceived as superior. Government departments and agencies have reported extremely positive results from agile projects. Indeed, the Department for Work and Pensions, the Ordnance Survey and the Ministry of Defence have all used agile methods for delivering ICT projects.

Regularly changing priorities, advances in technology and the desire for more cost-effective and user-led solutions require a far more responsive approach to running ICT projects.  Of the thousands of people who have downloaded our recent report, we have had an overwhelmingly positive response to the idea for government.

So how can government make it work? The second innovation success factor is ‘trialability’ – can departments test out this approach on a limited basis.  Again, the good news is that at relatively low cost, departments can use an agile approach for running ICT projects – and indeed they are committed to doing so.

The third characteristic is ‘observability’ – are the results of the innovation visible to others.  Whitehall has committed to creating a centre of excellence across government and the private sector which can enable fast start-up and mobilisation for agile projects.  It will also establish a cross government approach and capabilities for agile.  This should serve to raise the profile and ‘observability’ of agile projects.

The fourth factor is complexity – how difficult is an innovation to use and understand.  Here, the government faces a greater challenge.  New skills will be required which are ‘in-house’ rather than bought in through contractors.  This includes making difficult trade-offs and prioritising effectively. Regular testing, planning and demonstration will need to take place to handle risks. And by taking part in agile projects, it can serve to internalise agile values, build skills and help to foster support, understanding and momentum for change.

The final factor is perhaps the greatest barrier to overcome – compatibility – the degree to which an innovation is consistent with existing values, norms and operating procedures.  Maughan underscores how different the agile approach is for running ICT projects. The project approval processes and legal arrangements governing contracts need to be adapted to be far more responsive and receptive to agile delivery.

Equally important is the culture of empowerment that needs to surround projects.  Fortunately, the experience in other large organisations in the public and private sector suggest this transition is possible.

At a large government agency, budgeting and governance processes have changed to accommodate and encourage more agile projects.  Its new investment approval process involves obtaining early permission to fund development immediately without a fully specified business case being approved (although a robust justification must still be provided). The projects are given permission to spend at a particular rate over a period of time and return to the investment board at specified intervals for further approvals and to update on progress.

On each of these points, it appears that agile can succeed with the right leadership and determination for change. Ultimately, however, this isn’t just about adopting a new approach to government ICT, reforming the procurement process or taking a more sophisticated approach to managing risk.  Instead, it is a test of Whitehall’s capacity for innovation.

**

Jerrett Myers is a Senior Researcher at the Institute for Government. The Institute for Government’s report, System Error: Fixing the flaws in government IT can be downloaded here.

Alistair Maughan’s blog post for Computer Weekly is here.

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A sign that Cabinet Office reforms will alter behaviour of major IT suppliers

Posted on 05/05/2011 | Leave a comment

 

By Tony Collins

There are signs that a long-running £700m dispute between Fujitsu and the Department of Health over the NHS IT programme will reach a settlement without a court hearing.

 A settlement, it should be said, will be due largely to reforms of central government initiated by the coalition and Francis Maude, Cabinet Office minister.

Maude’s reforms mean that major suppliers to the government are now managed centrally, at “Crown” level, not contract by contract. So a dispute with one department can affect a supplier’s relationship with government as a whole.

That didn’t happen before, when each department managed separately its relationships with major suppliers.

It’s likely now that Fujitsu will want to improve its relationships with government, particularly since the:

– Tsunami in Japan which has weakened the company’s operations.

– premature ending of Fujitsu’s £330m desktop contract with the Department for Work and Pensions.

The wish for improved relations with government makes it more likely it will reach a settlement over its withdrawal from the National Programme for IT in the NHS – NPfIT – in 2008. Fujitsu was said to have been seeking £700m after its departure. It’s now thought to be seeking a settlement without any formal proceedings.

Comment

It has long been obvious that government should be a “single customer” to its major IT suppliers. Only now is that happening, thanks to the coalition’s reforms. It means that, for the first time in living memory, it’s the government – the customer – that is in control of its major IT suppliers, and not the other way round. 

Few of the top 20 IT and services suppliers to government will now be willing to carry on a dispute with a department when it could cost lost contracts with other departments.

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Six entrepreneurs to coach SMEs for Government “Dragons’ Den” panel

Posted on 14/04/2011 | Leave a comment

 

By Tony Collins

Six entrepreneurs will coach SME representatives before they present their ideas to a Government “Dragon’s Den” panel of officials.

The coaching will help chosen SME representatives improve their  proposals for reforming parts of central government.

Francis Maude, Minister for the Cabinet Office, said the entrepreneurs will coach representatives from SMEs that have submitted successful ideas for innovative and cost-saving Government goods and services to the online Innovation Launch Pad.

The Innovation Launch Pad  opened on the Cabinet Office website in March and closes on 22 April.  SMEs are invited to submit proposals – up to 500 words – on how their goods and services could help save the Government money or deliver better outcomes.

Civil servants will vote for ideas with the greatest potential. The chosen SME representatives will then present their ideas to the Dragon’s Den-style panel of senior government business officials, following coaching by the entrepreneurs.

The entrepreneurs are:

– Jon Moulton, founder and managing director of private equity firm Better Capital and member of the British Venture Capital Hall of Fame

– Mike Lynch OBE, co-founder of a software start-up that is said by the Cabinet Office to be the UK’s largest software company Autonomy. He is also a trustee at NESTA

– Hermann Hauser, CBE, founder of over 20 technology companies including Acorn Computers, who has an honorary CBE for ‘innovative service to the UK enterprise sector’

– Sherry Coutu, founder of two successful businesses in the financial services industry and investor in 35 businesses, and rated as the ‘top CEO mentor in Europe’

– David Cleevely, co-founder of Abcam and founder of Analysys and Chairman of Cambridge Angels

– Stephen Kelly, former CEO of Micro Focus and the Government Crown Representative for mutuals.

The chosen businesses will be invited to a reception at 10 Downing Street.

Stephen Allott, one of nine Crown Representatives appointed by the Cabinet Office to drive procurement savings across Whitehall, told The Telegraph that the initiative would raise the profile of the businesses within Whitehall, although there were no guarantees of contracts at the end of the process,

He said departments were taking the Government’s pledge to acquire more goods and services from small firms seriously.

Francis Maude said: “This Government does not believe there is a one size fits all approach to delivering services.  That is why we want to make it easy for small businesses to tell us their ideas, as they will have a vital role to play in helping us to find new, innovative and more cost effective ways to improve services to the public.  

“We also believe that supporting small business will help to kick-start growth in the economy.  As part of this, we are doing everything we can to open up business to SMEs.

“We have committed to publishing all contracts online for business to see, got rid of the bureaucracy to allow new companies to supply government and appointed Stephen Allott to represent SME interests in Government.

“Our Innovation Launch Pad means that all SMEs now have the opportunity to present their business solutions to us. I am delighted that such senior business figures have volunteered to help us to get the very best out of small business for Government.”

Stephen Allott said: “I am certain that there is substantial opportunity for Government to save money and deliver a better service through much greater use of SMEs.  If you’re an SME with a product or service that could save money, use the Innovation Launch Pad to tell us about it.”

Entrepeneur  Sherry Coutu said:

“The Government buying more goods and services from SMEs is key. One pound of a customer’s money is worth ten times the amount of investment money to a small business.

“Given that 54 percent of jobs are created by six percent of small, fast-growth companies, this is excellent for everyone as small fast growing businesses will continue to drive the economy.”

Jon Moulton said:

“Small businesses in the UK have a fantastic reputation for innovation. The Innovation Launch Pad is a real opportunity for SMEs to showcase their proposals to Government.”

The Innovation Launchpad is here.

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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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