back to article UK.gov ends 'speed dating' romps with tech suppliers

Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude has labelled the public sector's old way of procuring IT products as a "speed dating approach" and added that UK.gov needed to learn from its European neighbours such as Germany and France. Maude was speaking at a Crown and Suppliers conference in Whitehall this morning that was attended …

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  1. Captain Underpants
    FAIL

    Saving money through smarter procurement?

    Well, I'm not opposed to it, but it won't happen by itself.

    You "save money" (or rather, optimise expenditure) on tech by first making sure you understand what you're trying to do, and then making sure you understand how you're going to do it.

    The ongoing fetish that UK.gov has for outsourcing project and consultancy work is a terrible strategy for this, because it's so open to abuse by those who want to ensure they keep getting more work.

    The smart way to do it is to bring people with industry experience and knowledge in-house, paid reasonably well but not exorbitantly (which is easy enough when you consider the extortionate rates often paid to consultants) and get *them* to deal with the procurement work, on the basis that they'll be better place to spot the utter bullshit so often proferred by tech suppliers for what it is.

    Without overhauling a bunch of stuff (including the existence of middle or senior management who want to be "involved" with tech provision despite being unable to understand any of it), it'll never happen, but now and again it's a pleasant daydream for those of us with our noses to the grindstone...

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    UK suppliers?

    Are there actually any UK IT suppliers to the government? Suppliers of what kit?

    All this fuss about "Buy Blitish"... when the suppliers are all foreign megacorps supplying Chinese made kit using offshored Indian techies.

    Hang on, let me think about why... oh yes, thats because you want it cheap because all those man hours at sub-minimum wage really knock the bill in half.

    You can't have it both ways gov...

    Made me laugh with the Siemens vs Bombardier thing... do we buy German or Canadian?

  3. Bluenose
    FAIL

    What a laugh

    So Government procurement is going to improve because they are going to provide forward visibility of their project pipeline. I just saw a flock of flying pigs fly past my window.

    I have been involved in projects with the public sector where they were offered better deals if they could provide a forward looking procurement plan so we knew when things like kit and people would be required. A year later they asked us to go back to the old model as they couldn't get to a position where they knew what projects they were going to do or what resources they might need.

    The fact that the Government changes its mind every 10 minutes about what particular policy or political donor is currently flavour of the month does not help either since that can be the cause of projects being pulled or budgets being allocated.

  4. despairing citizen
    Unhappy

    Long Term Relationship, a translation

    Call me cynical, but I expect the long term relationship the elected types are intrested in, is with those hiring lobyists and consultants.

    The current procurement system disadvantages small operators with innovative products, but the proposals would lead to a market stitched up by the big players.

    i.e. if you want some business consultancy, it will go to prize wally and cockup, rather than a small local consulting firm, who might actually do the analisys, rather than repeating the old trite they told the last dozen customers (where it didn't work either).

  5. Mondo the Magnificent
    FAIL

    Pffft....

    And the monopoly known as "Sprint-II Framework" that the police are forced to use is value for money?

  6. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Unhappy

    So less HP/CSC/IBM/Cap Gemini and more Logica.

    Hurrar

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