The government does not have the necessary skills to manage the depth and breadth of its digital commercial needs, MPs have warned.
The government commercial function leads policy on procurement with technology suppliers – worth around £14bn every year – but a new report raises concern that the 6,000-strong cross-government network only has 15 people dedicated to the full-time management of technology suppliers.
The just-published Public Accounts Committee report Government’s relationship with digital technology suppliers says "this number is simply not tenable...given the pace of digital technological change needed to adopt AI and the significant shift from legacy systems to modern replacements".
Andrew Forzani, who was appointed as the government chief commercial officer in February, told the committee that his priority to address this deficit will be to “bring the floor of that experience up across the whole 6,000” and ensure that there was a “digital thread” across all commercial training in future.
The PAC report, published today, says the government should give “serious consideration” to making it policy that “the vast majority of new recruits in GCF have digital expertise”.
The MPs said they are concerned that the GCF, which is led by Forzani, “does not yet recognise the scale of reform required to address long-standing issues in digital procurement".
They warn that major digital transformation programmes "have often failed to deliver as intended, with repeated delays and cost overruns, because government has struggled to act as an ‘intelligent customer’".
The report also raises concern about the capability of the new Digital Commercial Centre of Excellence – which is being set up by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology – to deliver reforms to help enable tech startups and SMEs to access government contracts.
It says the Cabinet Office and DSIT “appear to have much more extensive and wide–ranging aims for the work of the Centre of Excellence”, which include fully harnessing the capability of the digital and commercial functions and digitally upskilling commercial staff across government. But it points out that the Centre of Excellence “will have just 24 experts to undertake its roles”, compared to 6,000 mainly general commercial people working across government.
The report also warns of “an insufficient level of digital commercial skills across departments” and says “some departments do not make enough use of their digital expertise”.
It urges "strong thinking on the reforms needed, clarity on [the] accountabilities for driving change from the centre, and sufficient people with the capability to execute this on the ground".
Unclear lines of accountability
The MPs also raised concerns that recent machinery of government changes means it is “not yet clear who is ultimately responsible for delivering the improvements to digital commercial activity that government needs to make”.
The Cabinet Office currently has responsibility for all government procurement policy, including digital and commercial training capability, and the GCF is accountable to the Cabinet Office in its leadership of public procurement policy.
DSIT is responsible for government’s overall digital strategy and for working with other government departments to deliver it. But the committee said it is “concerned as to whether DSIT will have the authority to instill the change that is needed in most departments”.
The Government Digital Service, which is accountable to DSIT, is responsible for government’s digital and data function across government but does not have a formal role in respect of procurement.
The report asks the Cabinet Office and DSIT to “urgently clarify their respective roles within digital procurement, including responsibilities around decision–making and areas of accountability for fundamentally improving digital commercial activity across government”.
It also asks the departments to set out how they will ensure that GCF and GDS operate on digital commercial matters both individually and jointly, and to provide clarity on who leads on relationship management with digital suppliers.
Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, chair of PAC, said: “The government is talking a big game in digitally evolving Whitehall, but we are concerned that it is not yet fully cognizant of the pace at which it will need to adapt to keep up with the wider digital and AI revolution.
“Our committee has long called for digital professionals to take their rightful place at the top table both in management and on the supervisory boards of departments themselves, guiding and shaping key conversations on AI, cyber security, and overall policy delivery.
“How digital services are bought in from the private sector is the very foundation of this work. It is heartening to hear government beginning to aspire to excellence in this area, but it is vital that those at senior levels who understand the scale of what government faces communicate this with urgency to the wider mechanisms across departments. Without reckoning with the reality on the ground which our report lays out, aspirations will not get government very far.”
The Cabinet Office and DSIT have been approached for comment.