All central government departments and most other public bodies, are subject to Cabinet Office spending controls.
For digital service delivery, there is a zero threshold, meaning any new or re-designed transactional services delivered on-line or new websites or applications, need to be approved at the proposition stage and before any expenditure is committed.
In addition, when creating or purchasing digital products or services other spending controls, such as ICT expenditure and strategic supplier management, may also apply.
The GDS Service Manual also explains the requirement for organisations launching from April 2014 new or re-designed services, delivering more than 100,000 transactions a year, to progress towards and achieve a Digital by Default Service Standard.
The BIS Digital Transformation Team has been looking at ways in which BIS can:
- ensure compliance with these Cabinet Office controls in order to fully meet its obligations as a central government department;
- confirm all digital activity is aligned with the BIS Digital Strategy and is endorsed by the BIS Digital Leader, Ken McCallum
- at the same time add value to support partner organisations and not just add in additional tiers of governance
A BIS 'Digital Gateway' is being considered, in order to provide centralised support to:
- promote early engagement to help shape digital propositions
- better share digital expertise and best practice
- promote digital benefits and service improvements
- ensure there is a clear process and guidance on controls and standards which will ease formal approval by GDS
We're using the current review of digital capability to work out what this Gateway might look like, but in the meantime we'd welcome views from partner organisations.
How can we make the process clear? How can we better share expertise and best practice within the department and our partner organisations? Let us know your thoughts.
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3 comments
Comment by James Devenish posted on
Thanks for the useful blog.
Currently when there has been essential website maintenance or the websites on the shared platform have gone down - our online forms have not been affected due to them being hosted seperately. Would this still be the case or is there a move to pull all online applications under one supplier?
Comment by sharon posted on
Thanks for the comment James, GOV.UK is proving to be very reliable so this shouldn't be a problem for you.
Comment by Ros posted on
Sharon
I work in the Home Office and we have recently set up a Gateway looking at new change initiatives, which includes consideration of digital issues. It would be very interesting to share your experiences and discuss ideas if you had time