1.2 Information and communication technology (ICT) is critical for government to operate effectively and should improve how citizens and businesses communicate with government. Yet government has faced significant challenges in delivering value for money from its ICT investment, as we set out in our report Information and Communication Technology in government.2
1.3 The Cabinet Office has accepted that government ICT projects have tended to be too big, lengthy, risky and complex, and that there have been high profile failures. Departments have worked independently of each other to design, procure and run their own ICT systems, rarely reusing or adapting systems available elsewhere in government. In addition, departments' systems often do not communicate easily with one another.
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2 Comptroller and Auditor General, Information and Communication Technology in government: Landscape Review, Session 2010-11, HC 757, National Audit Office, 17 February 2011.