Maude plans £95m IT renegotiation savings

Maude, who heads the coalition government's Efficiency and Reform Group (ERG), said each project will be reviewed individually to ascertain whether it should be cut, reformed or continue, reports The Register . In a written response to a parliamentary question from Labour MP Ian Wright, Maude said: "The review of ICT projects will be followed by a contract renegotiation exercise which will be undertaken at supplier level and will focus on those suppliers who have the largest overall revenues from UK public sector contracts. "Targets by contract have not been defined as each will need to be individually reviewed and negotiated." One of the ERG's first actions was to implement an immediate freeze on all new ICT spend above £1m. The group is part of the government's plans to make £6bn in spending cuts this year. In a separate announcement on 15 June 2010, prime minister David Cameron announced that responsibility for the Office of Government Commerce and Buying Solutions will move to the Cabinet Office, where they will form part of the ERG. Commenting in the move, Maude said it will bring together all cross-government operational functions, including procurement, project management, IT and civil service workforce and reform functions. He also announced the appointment of three business leaders to the ERG's efficiency board. They are Sir Peter Gershon, chair of Tate and Lyle, former government efficiency adviser and first chief executive of the OGC; Lucy Neville-Rolfe, executive director of Tesco and formerly a senior civil servant; and Dr Martin Read, non-executive director of Invensys, Aegis and Lloyd's of London.