Today, the State Services Commission released for public consultation, draft advice for government agencies on how to work through the pros and cons of using offshore information and communications technology (ICT) service providers.
Which is a long winded way of saying: “If you’re thinking about doing business with an overseas ICT company, have we got some advice for you!”
Things to know about it:
- It’s “interim guidance” because we think it’s a very good start but it’s not perfect and won’t be without your input.
- It’s not a cookbook. There are few easy answers and the final decision is yours. But we think the information will be helpful in working your way through the decision process.
- It’s not new policy. It’s not formal enough even to be guidelines. Our only strong recommendation is to take a risk management approach and you were doing that anyway, right?
- So what is it? Well, working through the table of contents, there’s:
- some introductory background stuff - policies, standards, and other formal parts of the ICT procurement framework
- some pointers on that risk management approach
- explanations of risks lurking out there in offshore outsourcing land (in 10 groups to make it easier)
- a summary table of risks and possible mitigation strategies
- stuff to discuss with your legal advisors, and
- a collection of places to go for more information.
- It’s open for comments and feedback until 15 December 2008.
- you can add your comments here, or
- if you prefer a more discreet process, feel free to use this email address ict.offshore@ssc.govt.nz
I’m going to follow this post up with more; how many will depend on how much you want to know.
The next one will explain more about when you might find yourself one of our target audience and what triggers might cause you to think about paying the guidance some serious attention.
I’m also thinking about a post on how it might work in practice.
And before I finish this post, I’d like to offer our thanks to our partners in this effort for their advice and contributions: Archives New Zealand, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner and the other agencies represented on the Steering Committee.
