Alex's Adventures on the Infobahn - government IT

Return to normality

2010-05-12T11:19:00+01:00

Now the new government is installed and running we can return to our usual programme. One of the things I shall be looking forward to is the promised shake up in Government IT procurement. Both the Lib Dems and the Tories are more or less singing from the same song sheet. More specifically capping individual contracts at £100M and publishing tender and contract details should shed more light on what is traditionally a rather murky area of government spending. IT is often seen as a silver bullet and has led to some massive white elephant projects which lock departments into vendor solutions over long periods.

While none of the parties have mandated (and nor should they) increased use of Open Source it should be a by-product of encouraging smaller, modular and openly interoperable projects. Time will tell.

Policies I can get behind

2009-10-05T16:26:00+01:00

I was little disappointed by David Cameron's performance on Sunday AM. It may just be the curse of any political leader these days if to be vague enough to avoid splitting their own party or come across as uncaring hatchet men. Everyone seems keen to cut waste without actually reducing the head count.

However it's a mistake to judge a party purely by the leader. A good leader should be making the best of their cabinet and advisers. It's good to see Frances Maude announcing the enlisting of Tom Steinberg to advise on government IT. He's the founder of mySociety who know a thing or two about making the best use of technology to engage the public in politics.

While I'm at it I may as well give plaudits to the government for appointing Professor David MacKay who's book "Sustainable Energy - without the hot air" is my go to reference for useful numbers.