Public authorities are increasingly coming under pressure to provide more efficient and more cost-effective electronic facilities and solutions. Information technology is seen as a gateway to such improvement and Government expectations are high. The e-Government agenda anticipates that IT will provide the platform for such diverse issues as citizen-centred public service reform, corporate service transformation and information-sharing across Government.
In this environment, public authorities and their IT departments are faced with a multiplicity of challenges. They are being asked to procure ‘leading edge’ solutions across a range of activities whilst achieving demonstrable ‘value for money’ and consistency with the authority’s strategic and corporate plans. This is further complicated by the ever-broadening scope of IT-driven functions – wireless CCTV, electronic purchasing and web-based application forms, to name just a few.
In summary, public authorities and their IT departments are being asked to develop potentially complex, technically diverse, multi-user solutions, often to tight timescales and challenging budgets.
The Bevan Brittan IT team is a specialist team with a well rounded understanding of the IT, Telecoms and Ecommerce market. It advises both customers (public and private sector) and providers of IT services and therefore understands IT issues from both perspectives. The variety of work undertaken ensures that we are familiar with the full range of IT products and services and have advised local authority clients on IT projects covering matters such as:
- IT outsourcing and service contracts
- telecommunications procurements (including networks and infrastructure)
- ecommerce
- hardware and software procurement
- web-based applications
- database rights
- intellectual property issues
The key skill we possess is our ability to think beyond the IT and legal issues. We appreciate that the factors which will determine the success or failure of an IT procurement are not achievable simply by ‘ticking the boxes’. Success will depend on identifying the right commercial partner, on consulting with end-users and on understanding the wider context within which an IT project sits. IT is a crucial transformation tool but will not in itself deliver transformation.
Our experience of understanding the wider context led to our appointment as a lead adviser to Partnerships for Schools on the Building Schools for the Future programme. We were responsible for the production of the original (and revised) standard IT documentation and are now advising local authorities on their schemes.
Some examples of how we have assisted local authorities with IT issues are:
- outsourcing of infrastructure and device maintenance
- the establishment (in conjunction with a private sector sponsor) of a free web-based procurement tool intended for use by local authorities
- advising on the establishment of a joint venture (with the private sector) for a broadband hub
- advising on a project to provide broadband facilities to rural communities
- drafting the LGA-sponsored agreement for the provision of councillor websites