3.7 The Department's ability to develop and maintain information systems and information technology strategies and to assess the technical merit and value for money aspects of EDS proposals is dependent on senior decision-makers and advisers maintaining a high level of personal awareness of developments in the field of information technology. Without this awareness, the Department's ability to assess the value of EDS proposals may be weakened, running the risk of procurement of solutions which do not offer value for money.
3.8 The Inland Revenue has recognised the key role of individuals in developing and evaluating strategies, and assessing solutions to specific business requirements. While decisions may be ultimately made or ratified collectively, the creative exploration of possibilities, balancing of options and formulation of recommendations must be done by individuals who, to be successful, must have:
■ sufficient skill, expertise and technical knowledge to know what to ask and where to look for answers, and to understand and assimilate the information gained;
■ the experience to make soundly based judgements.
It is difficult to judge precisely what level of personal knowledge is adequate for each senior post. However, the Department attempts to consider the requirements systematically through its staff planning process.
3.9 Senior Inland Revenue staff with direct responsibility for ensuring that the Department is provided with an adequate information technology service and for the management of the contract, such as the Director of the Business and Management and Services Division and the head of its Commercial Group, are conscious of the need to maintain their personal knowledge of the wider information technology market. They do this by:
■ membership of formal and informal networks of fellow professionals, including international networks of major users of information technology in government - in the United Kingdom, for example, the Department is a member of the Sainsbury Technical Infrastructure Forum, a group of 150 organisations which manage large information technology operations and meet regularly to discuss issues of common concern;
■ attending conferences and seminars, both as speakers and delegates;
■ visiting suppliers and other information technology users, both with EDS and separately; and
■ reading professional journals, the trade press and reports from information technology research companies to which the Department subscribes.
3.10 The Department is widely regarded as a source of information on the successful management of information technology and systems outsourcing. It also acts as a reference site for EDS in the firm's dealings with potential new customers.
3.11 The Inland Revenue believes that dealing with such enquiries offers a number of benefits.
■ It leads to contacts with other taxation authorities and keeps the Department alert to new approaches to outsourcing, not only of information technology, but of other business processes. For example, site visits were made to Australia, Canada and the United States prior to the development of self assessment, which helped identify best practice, thereby avoiding unnecessary reinvention.
■ It encourages contact and the sharing of knowledge with other government departments and private sector organisations with outsourced business processes. The Department is, for example, currently working with HM Customs & Excise to develop a common approach to organisational intranets.
■ It helps maintain an awareness of developments in outsourcing essential to the evaluation of the Department's options at the end of the contract.