Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to implement the guidance set out by the Government Commercial Function in its paper entitled Exiting Major IT Contracts: Guidance for Departments, published in November 2017, in respect of (a) using market engagement, (b) setting up disaggregation work, (c) risk assessment, (d) developing a programme plan through the transition, (e) identifying the skills and capabilities that will be needed in the future and (f) any other work related to that guidance.

In 2014 Defra has established a formal programme, the UnITy programme, to implement Government guidance on exiting large IT contracts. It will replace Defra’s current IBM and Capgemini IT contracts with a more disaggregated supply chain. Defra’s approach is consistent with the recent Government Commercial Function guidance on Exiting Major IT Contracts.

Market engagement events have taken place for each procurement, in advance of issuing ‘calls for competition’. The UnITy programme has been set up with formal governance. The programme also has a rigorous approach to risk management and risks are reviewed at its Programme Board. Each workstream that underpins UnITy develops a transition plan with the future service provider and the exiting suppliers. Defra has undertaken a review of the capabilities it requires in the future and mapped this against its existing capabilities.