1 We examined why the Agency chose to set up a joint venture company, in partnership with a private sector supplier, as the means to provide their IT services and exploit their expertise in radio spectrum management. The arrangement has been operating for 18 months and we were therefore able to examine performance in the early stages of the partnership. In particular we examined:
■ why the Agency needed to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their IT services and why they chose a partnership with a private sector supplier as the best way of achieving this;
■ whether the partnership with CMG is likely to provide the sustained provision, to specified quality standards, of the Agency's IT services;
■ the extent to which the partnership with CMG is likely to be a more economical, efficient or effective solution than the Agency continuing to provide IT services in house, taking account of the transfer of risk to the private sector; and
■ if the partnership with CMG is likely to exploit successfully the skills of the Agency in overseas markets.