£10m digital government project "a lesson in how not to run a programme"

Thursday 13 July 2017

A £10 million initiative to get more government services online that has already used 75% of its budget has been slammed as, “…a lesson in how not to run a programme.”

Chamber of Commerce President Eliot Lincoln yesterday hit out at the ‘eGov’ project, which was found in March to only have £2 million remaining in its £9.9 million budget.

In a Chamber Lunch speech, he said that the business lobby group was “concerned” over the “adhoc” project expenditure, ill-defined lines of accountability, and, “…less than ideal relationship between eGov and Digital Jersey, who are… a key conduit between eGov and local industry.”

The project had aimed to get a number of vital services online, such as islanders’ personal tax and health records and making income tax payable via the States website – but is still yet to achieve these key objectives.

Video: What is eGov? Jonathan Williams, Programme Director, explains. (States of Jersey)

While he acknowledged some successes in the form of the Love Jersey and Active Jersey apps, Mr Lincoln said that eGov was currently failing to prove that it had been a sound investment of public money.

He commented: “The programme is vital. We must get our government and civil service houses in order if we’re to stand a chance of becoming the digital jurisdiction that we aspire to be, but the communication out of the eGov programme is not enough. There is some clear information on the gov.je website of the 11 projects that have gone live and the other 11 being developed… All good stuff, but I’m struggling to see how we’re getting value for money out of this programme.”

“After four years, the programme had spent £7.9 million out of a budget of £9.9 million. I really hope that a massive amount of value delivery is communicated to us during the last 20% of the spend available,” he added.

Pictured: The Love Jersey and Active Jersey mobile apps, which the eGov project helped to develop.

His comments came following cutting remarks by the Public Accounts Committee, who last week claimed that the project lacked focus, blasting it as a, “…veneer of efficiency.”

Echoing these remarks, Mr Lincoln added: “Any largescale programme of change such as this must be underpinned by a clear strategy and set of objectives. Otherwise, we’re just putting our boat on the sea without a sail or a rudder. Sure, we’ll go on a journey, but we’re not necessarily going to end up where we want to end up.”