Begins procurement process for solution to give civil servants a clearer view of how their programmes sit within big picture
The Cabinet Office is in the early stages of developing a tool to enable government agencies to map out and monitor their transformation strategies.
Its Transformation Peer Group has published a notice on the Digital Marketplace saying it is looking for a digital tool that would give civil servants access to dependencies and other data about programmes.
Currently they are unable to see how their programmes relate to others, which feeds the duplication of effort that the Government is anxious to prevent. Also, departments cannot see how other programmes depend on them, and ministers cannot see how they have to work with other departments to achieve priorities.
The notice says that senior responsible officers for programmes and projects would need to identify critical dependencies to manage risks, and to see which programmes are meant to have similar outcomes. This could lead to different departments working together.
It also suggests that the group expects the work to move forward quickly: a proof of concept has already been carried out and the supplier would be expected to develop a beta version of the tool by June of this year.
The document does not place any estimated value on the project, saying that the team needs to “engage with the market” to understand the possibilities.
The move reflects the trend that has seen the Cabinet Office Government Digital Service pitched as being about more than the implementation of digital technology, instead emphasising its role in supporting transformation efforts around government. Another element of this was the publication of the recent Government Transformation Strategy without the word ‘digital’ in the title.
