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<p>After the 2010 General Election, this Government formed the Efficiency and Reform
Group to help and support departments in maximising value for money. Although responsibility
for projects remains the responsibility of individual departments, we introduced strict
controls to provide further scrutiny of spend including on IT projects.</p><p>These
controls can and have been used by the Cabinet Office to block inappropriate spending.
In 2012-13 alone these controls helped us save taxpayers over £500 million from IT,
contributing to overall efficiency savings of £10billion in 2012-13 (the last year
for which we have audited figures).</p><p>We have clarified our ‘red lines' for IT
procurement – these are designed to encourage competition in the sector, free the
government from longstanding inflexible contracts with IT providers and ensure maximum
taxpayer value. These rules include:</p><p>· we will no longer let ICT contracts over
£100 million in value – unless there is an exceptional reason to do so. Contracts
should be smaller to ensure the widest possible range of suppliers can compete for
them.</p><p>· we will not give a contract for service provision to a company providing
the system integration function in the same part of government. It's an important
way of ensuring we are an intelligent customer.</p><p>· we won't extend existing contracts
unless there is a compelling case - it's rare to find any good reason to extend the
pricing and technology of the past.</p><p>· we do not expect to let hosting contracts
for more than 2 years. The cost of hosting seems to halve every 18 months. Businesses
wouldn't sign up for years upon end - and neither should government.</p><p> </p><p>
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