At least £14bn a year is spent by government on procuring its digital services. Effective use of technology suppliers in this area is essential to any ambitions to digitally transform government and best enable it to plan for and use future technology. In 2022, the Government set out a roadmap seeking to address systemic barriers to digital transformation, recognising the fact that financial processes which may work for other programmes are not always well-suited for digital projects.
The PAC’s 2021 report on challenges in implementing digital change raised concerns on the number of failures of complex, large-scale digital programmes, with the serious impact such failures had on important government services and taxpayers’ money. It highlighted as an example failures in NHS England’s efforts to transform primary care services that potentially put patients at risk of serious harm, and warned that the Government faced significant long-term barriers to successful digital change.
The National Audit Office’s (NAO) 2025 study examined how government works with technology suppliers, and whether the commercial, contracting and procurement for digital programmes is undertaken as efficiently and effectively as possible to achieve value for money. Based on the NAO’s study, the Committee will hear from senior officials from Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and the Cabinet Office on likely topics including:
- Longstanding issues in Government’s digital procurement;
- Government’s strategic approach to dealing with suppliers; and
- Departments’ digital expertise.
Please look at the requirements for written evidence submissions and note that the Committee cannot accept material as evidence that is published elsewhere.
The deadline for submitting written evidence is Thurdsay February 13 at 23:59pm.