Instead, the government intends "to break very large projects into much smaller ones" that will allow quicker and cheaper procurement, greater use of smaller contractors, less reliance on a relatively few big system integrators and more ability to adapt as a programme progresses.
(...)
He also plans to create a government "apps store" which will provide a list of IT software and applications that the government already has, so departments can reuse those rather than reinvent them, and launch a "Dragon's Den" opportunity for small and medium suppliers to show government what they can do with more innovative approaches to IT. Any government IT project costing more than £5m will need his personal approval, he said.
Sounds awfully sensible. I've always felt that any IT project above £100m was almost guaranteed to be a disaster. I say this as someone who spent 4 years working for a big consultancy (which participated in the disastrous NHS Programme for IT, and paid dearly for the privilege).
If the UK Government is really serious about opening up to smaller suppliers, this may be a gold mine of opportunity for startups (both UK and abroad) that have been previously locked out.
In any case, it's one more piece of evidence that the UK government is doing its best to help smaller businesses.
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