Risky proposals as government gives walkover on IT operations
The latest report's proposal means that a small number of government agencies will deliver IT services to other agencies. In other words, there will be a range of government IT services. Although the investigator writes that services should primarily be purchased from private suppliers, there is no specific information on how this should be done. Instead, it describes in more detail how the government's range of services will be developed.
The role of private providers therefore needs to be clarified and strengthened.
Clear rules and more work are needed to ensure that private companies can and are allowed to deliver the best IT services, so that public authorities can get what the government and everyone else wants them to have - secure and cost-effective IT services!
It would have been desirable for the government to take a more fundamental approach to the issue of digitization of government administration. Instead, the investigator's proposal is based on an acceptance of developments as they have been for many years. The result of this is that the authorities that will coordinate and deliver IT services will have a very strong position and a great deal of influence in key areas of the digitization of government administration.
With the new constellation of powers, there may be an imbalance in government administration. As digitalization progresses, this imbalance will in turn affect how the government can develop the work of the authorities and what they should do. This may come as an unpleasant surprise.
If the opportunities of digitalization are to be fully exploited, the market must meet the authorities without intermediaries. The proposals are now in the inbox of Minister for Energy and Digitalization Khashayar Farmanbar (S). It remains to be seen whether he will take the lead in renewing the digitization of the state administration or leave the walk-over to strong authorities to set the agenda.
TechSverige has many members who can contribute secure, cost-effective and innovative IT solutions. The government must give them the chance.