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By Sally Watson, 7 December 2001 16:45

NEWS The government will fail to hit its 2005 target for providing e-services to citizens unless it radically overhauls procurement in the regions. According to Oracle, a major supplier of e-government systems, local authorities are moving too slowly in purchasing technology and implementing new business practices. Andy Smith, public sector ebusiness development manager at Oracle, told silicon.com: "Local councils view procurement traditionally as a function to buy pens and paperclips, but what we are talking about here is a major procurement exercise." Earlier this week, Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt praised the government's progress towards so-called 'joined-up' services. "We now have 50 per cent of all government services e-enabled," she said, "and we're confident it will be up to 74 per cent by next year." But Hewitt's conviction doesn't match Oracle's regional experiences. "The will is mostly there and the funding is in hand, but procurement is hampering the government's vision of 2005," Richard Broad, Oracle's regional director for local government claimed. When local authorities in England and Wales released their e-government plans in the summer, most admitted they needed to upgrade financial, HR, housing and social services systems, as well as installing new call centre and CRM technology to communicate with citizens. But with only three years left until the deadline and the procurement of a single new system taking an average of 18 months to complete, Oracle is warning that the timescales don't match up. "There's a danger of rushing to e-enable for 2005 without thinking about it, which means councils will be able to tick the right box - but it won't create cost savings and help them re-engineer their services," said Smith. Research by the Local Futures Group in Lewisham, South London, found leaders at the council were concerned with the transaction costs of procurement. Council workers claimed finding the most appropriate supplier was extremely time consuming and risky, partly due to what they saw as the infancy of the industry. Oracle's local government customers include Hull City Council, London Borough of Newham, Liverpool City Council and Cambridgeshire County Council.