‘Government exceeds budgets of ICT projects by an average of a third’

Government ICT projects cost on average 36 percent more than budgeted and take 37 percent longer than planned. That is the conclusion of the FD in an analysis of 125 recent government ICT projects with a budget of 5 million euros or more.

According to the newspaper, those 125 projects had an original budget of about 2.5 billion euros. The analysis shows that the expected costs have now risen to 3.5 billion euros, which amounts to a difference of 1 billion euros or an average exceedance of 8 million euros. The FD looked at a list of projects that fall under the so-called BIT, or the ICT Toetsing Bureau, which has an advisory role. That list would include 22 projects that cost more than double the original budget.

The projects include cases such as ICT innovation in the judiciary, as well as the modernization of the Personal Records Database or BRP. Not all projects are on the list. For example, that of the Tax and Customs Administration is not included, which has to do with maintenance of outdated systems. The FD also mentions ‘lesser known mistakes’, such as digitization at the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which was budgeted at 1.2 million euros, but would now cost 29 million euros. With 35 million euros, the adjustments to DigiD would now cost eight times more than budgeted.

The paper assumes that its estimate is conservative because the list may not provide a complete picture and because not all projects have published costs. Defense projects, for example, are not included.