Out-Law News 3 min. read

Government digital drive should include procurement of 'big data' expertise, says think tank


The Government should run procurements in a bid to find private sector companies able to utilise 'big data' to make public sector savings, a think tank has recommended.

The Policy Exchange said that the outsourcing contracts should only be agreed on a "payment-by-results basis" in order to help the Government avoid having to "invest significantly in big data technologies on the promise of uncertain future benefits".

The recommendation was contained in a report published by the Policy Exchange into ways the Government can better adapt to the digital age. (77-page / 1.54MB PDF)

"We think Government should be prepared to buy in big data analytics on an explicit payment-by-results basis," the report said. "Where an external organisation can demonstrate original insights that make a material difference to the efficiency or cost of ongoing government activities without compromising outcomes for citizens, government should be prepared to split any savings realised with an external partner."

"Government might want to develop a mechanism to steer activity – perhaps through a series of challenges or themes – or alternatively leverage external expertise by making an open call for proposals in whatever areas analysts think they will have the best chance of success," it said.

Where personal information is to be used in a 'big data' project, there should be "strong protections around data sharing" and identifiable data should not be made openly available, the think tank added.

Policy Exchange also recommended that all non-personal data held in the public sector should be made publicly available for free. It said businesses could make use of the information and help the economy to grow.

"By 2020 government needs to have moved from open data as a fringe activity to total data as its guiding philosophy," the report said. "A total data approach encompasses a wide variety of data users. Government should open up all non-personal public sector data with persistent uniform resource identifiers (URIs), as a foundation for accountability and economic growth."

In addition, Policy Exchange called on the Government to "adopt electronic purchasing" to improve the efficiency of its procurements and encourage businesses to use 'e-procurement' tools too.

It also said the Government should also issue "electronic proofs" in place of paper certificates for items such as driving licences and birth certificates so that individuals can when use them to verify their identity when making online transactions with third parties in order to speed up the "otherwise quick and cheap online processes" involved. Privacy concerns, it added, could be overcome.

"The technology now exists to move ahead with personal data disaggregated and put under the control of individual citizens," Policy Exchange said. "Very broadly speaking, the same technology used today to prove that certain websites or email messages are authentic might be deployed to allow the government to digitally sign electronic, machine-readable documents before sending them out to individuals. If someone goes on to share this document with a third party then the government’s digital signature would prove its authenticity."

"An open standards approach to issuing secure electronic proofs would enable a range of solutions for individuals looking to store their personal data (either on a local device, on several devices or in the cloud) and make it easy for any third party to accept electronic proofs in place of or alongside their analogue counterparts. Pushing control of these sorts of proofs back out to citizens should help to deal with one of the main challenges for government in the digital age – the tension between joining up data and protecting privacy."

In addition, Policy Exchange recommended that Government services be built on open standards and that developers be given access to the underlying application programming interfaces (APIs) so as they can link their own software applications to Government systems.

"Providing the APIs and software development kits (SDKs), and publishing the necessary documentation, benefits all sides," it said. "Developers are able to innovate around an established platform, users have access to new apps and services that meet their needs, and the platform itself benefits from increased engagement."

To address a technology skills shortage within the Government, Policy Exchange also suggested that more civil servants should work on secondment at private sector companies. It also said that 10% of civil servants across all grades should devote 10% of their time to driving innovation, and recommended that the Government enter into more joint venture partnerships with new-start technology businesses.

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