Whitehall to aim for half of ICT spend on cloud

Strategy implementation plan includes targets for cloud computing, the use of agile techniques and spending on the Public Service Network

Cloud computing should account for half of central government's new ICT spending by the end of 2015, according to a new strategy document published by the Cabinet Office.

Other long term goals include the opening of the Government Application Store by the end of next year, the implementation of a strategy for end user devices by January 2013, the use of agile techniques in half of ICT programmes by April 2013 and 80% of government telecommunications to be spent on systems compliant with the Public Service Network (PSN) by March 2014.

The ambitions are outlined in the Government ICT Strategy - Strategic Implementation Plan, which provides the detail to follow up the wider strategy document that was published in March of this year.

It says that, in moving towards the 50% target for cloud computing, the Government Cloud Authority is to publish its own strategy this month, and complete a series of pilots and set up the initial applications store by March of next year. It aims to have 50 accredited products available through the store by December 2012.

In support of this, a Cloud Services Group has been established to foster working with suppliers, and a commercial working group will be set up to deal with any difficult issues around procuring services and applications.

The use of agile techniques in ICT programmes will be supported by a suppliers' service catalogue, to be available this month, and individual departmental plans for training, support and agile solution centres. It is envisaged that the first projects to use the techniques will go live in March of next year, and that this will be followed up by a benchmarking exercise.

The PSN programme has already gathered steam through the accreditation of some suppliers and the launch of the first procurement for relevant services. This is to be followed up by the delivery of core capabilities and the sharing of information by next March, and the development of a connectivity framework and a services framework by September.

By the end of 2014 government should have a security model and cyber defence regime to ensure that the PSN is suitably protected, that users are authenticated and key capabilities always available to key personnel.

The document's foreword suggests an attempt to find a balance between acknowledging the autonomy of government departments while setting the rules for a coherent approch. It says the plan "ensures

that departments will now work in a collegiate way, underpinned by rigorous controls and mandates".

Its short term goals are focused on improving efficiency and the quality of ICT, while in the longer term it aims for standardisation, with the mandatory use of open standards and commodity procurement.

Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude said: "This government is committed to delivering a better service to the taxpayer on government ICT projects. Today's Strategic Implementation Plan sets out how we will do this. It gives a detailed breakdown of how the reforms this government is making to ICT projects are going to be delivered.

"In August we announced that we had already saved the public purse £300m by applying greater scrutiny to our ICT expenditure. And now we are going even further to save even more money, while delivering higher standards for government ICT."

Other significant elements of the plan include:

€Â¢ The creation of an Open Standards Board to manage activities in the field.

€Â¢ A core set of open standards to be identified by March 2012, and made available for use by departments by June.

€Â¢ Spending will not be approved for projects that are not shown to have referenced the Asset and Services Knowledgebase.

€Â¢ All central government software procurement should include an option analysis for open source by March 2013.

€Â¢ A baseline reference architecture to be in place by March 2012, enabling the sharing and re-use of ICT services and solutions.

€Â¢ The publication of an end user device strategy this month, to be fully implemented by January 2013.

€Â¢ The publication of a new strategy for green ICT in government this month, leading to the standardisation of carbon footprinting methods in Whitehall by April 2015.

€Â¢ A review of application programme interfaces across government, with a standard model to be in place by July 2012.

The strategy drew an early expression of support from the IT industry association Intellect. Its director of public sector, Sureyya Cansoy, said: "The ICT industry particularly welcomes the commitment to creating a competitive market for government ICT, which will enable companies of all sizes to bring exciting and innovative solutions to the table. The industry has promoted the need for government to move away from demanding bespoke systems, to a more standardised approach to buying and we welcome the commitment in the plan to make this change.

"The big opportunities for government lie in using ICT to enable new ways of delivering public services. This is where the real savings and improvements are to be found, and government needs to work in partnership with the industry to take full advantage."