The Cabinet Office has warned government departments to be aware of the major issues surrounding overseas outsourcing – including data protection and security concerns – as more and more departments look to slash costs.
The newly published Government ICT Offshoring Guide is designed to ensure government departments ask the right questions and offers procurers advice on signing offshoring agreements that involve data transfers.
“There may be some countries or locations where the risk of offshoring any government service is unacceptable,” it states.
The Cabinet Office has traditionally been opposed to offshoring and has pushed for outsourcing to develop locally, but the recession and the Comprehensive Spending Review have driven some departments to rethink their outsourcing strategies to cut operating costs.
Birmingham City Council recently revealed plans to offshore up to 100 back-office IT jobs by the end of this year.
The public sector has been told not to offshore any data or services that relate to national security. UK public sector standards must be applied and tested in all offshore environments, the guide adds, advising departments to be careful when choosing offshore locations.
