Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 22
22
Deferred
Previous IT modernisation efforts led to significant budget overruns and project failures for UKSV.
Conclusion
As part of the Vetting Reform programme, the Cabinet Office planned to replace UKSV’s legacy IT system, the National Security Vetting System, through the Future Vetting System programme, by February 2020 at a cost of £19 million. Failures in project management meant that the programme ran £9 million over budget and resulted in a 47 C&AG’s Report, para 3.5 48 C&AG’s Report, paras 1.2, 2.10 and Footnote 8 49 C&AG’s Report, para 3.15 50 C&AG’s Report, para 3.3 and paras 3.7 to 3.12 51 Q 62 52 C&AG’s Report, para 3.11 and Figure 15 53 Qq 74, 80; C&AG’s Report, paras 3.11 and 3.12 54 Q 78 55 Q 63 56 Q 82 The performance of UK Security Vetting 17 £2.5 million write off in the Cabinet Office’s 2021–22 accounts.57 The IT modernisation programme was subsequently rolled into the wider Vetting Transformation programme. After several failed attempts to get business case approval for the whole transformation programme, in December 2022 UKSV successfully submitted a less ambitious business case for the development of just the first of three new levels of vetting.58 UKSV is expecting to seek approval for the next level of transformation in summer 2023 and agreed that it is unlikely to be completed until 2025.59 When asked what had gone wrong previously and what she would do differently next time, UKSV’s chief executive said that they would replace the previous “big bang approach” with a “very agile, iterative and low-risk rollout approach” and that she had high expectations that the next version of the business case would be approved.60
Government Response Summary
The Cabinet Office has commissioned a 10-week enhanced discovery phase with external support to review delivery models for Vetting Transformation, which will inform an Outline Business Case to be considered in October 2023.
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government
Deferred
6.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation Target implementation date: Winter 2023 6.2 In light of the Committee’s recommendations, the Cabinet Office has contracted external support for a 10-week enhanced discovery to review and advise on how best to deliver Vetting Transformation. This discovery phase will assess the technical approach and delivery models for transformation and make a series of recommendations for the Cabinet Office to consider. The outputs of this discovery phase will form the basis of an Outline Business Case which will be considered in October 2023. This Outline Business Case will include the high level implementation plan for the Cabinet Office’s preferred delivery option. The Cabinet Office would be happy to share the key elements of the resulting plan in due course.