‘Government can save 5 billion annually on ICT projects’

The government could save up to 5 billion euros annually if it implements ICT projects correctly. Part of the lost income, 1.3 billion euros, is caused by ICT projects that fail.

This estimate, made for the temporary ICT committee, comes from Lauran Matthijssen, former ICT specialist at the Ministry of Agriculture. The committee is investigating the question of why government ICT projects so often fail and are associated with significant cost overruns.

Matthijssen believes that 1.3 billion euros can be directly attributed to failed government ICT projects. The former official also states that the other billions wasted can be explained by the fact that many systems have become unnecessarily complex. As a result, extra money is needed for maintenance and management. Matthijssen also states that IT companies and suppliers ‘knead’ certain projects in such a way that they earn much more from it. As clients, however, ministries would have insufficient internal knowledge to check whether they are not paying too much, de Volkskrant writes.

On Monday, a corporate legal adviser to the Ministry of Security and Justice told the Commission of Inquiry that the government seldom holds accountable ICT companies that fail. This would involve automation projects with large budgets and interests. The first hearing, which took place at the end of April, found that more than a third of government large-scale ICT projects fail on a scale that leaves the resulting system out of commission at all.