Opinion | The government's ICT incompetence can no longer continue like this

The Dutch government’s IT infrastructure is like an old, dilapidated house. The wiring is broken and the pipes are leaking. It’s drafty and it creaks. The foundations need to be renovated, but no one dares to touch them anymore for fear that everything will collapse. As a result, we continue to make expensive repairs, the system becomes increasingly unreliable, and new policies remain on the table.

The consequences for our society are immense. For example, politicians have been asking for a fair box 3 tax for years, but the Tax Authorities have not been able to achieve this technically. “Speed is required,” wrote NRC rather, “because doing nothing costs 400 million euros per year.”

The same tax authorities are afraid that within a few years they will no longer be able to collect the most crucial taxes. That would mean losing a third of our annual tax revenue. Cost: the insane amount of 100 billion per year.

But the consequences of incompetence in the field of ICT go further than just the Tax Authorities. For example, the launch of the Environmental Act has been delayed for almost 10 years due to poor ICT management, while the budget has already been exceeded by 1.1 billion euros. The project surrounding the digitization of personal budgets, which was initially to be set up for free by health insurers, also cost almost 100 million and is five years overdue. At Defense, the Speer ICT project was so delayed that the total costs far exceeded one billion.

Also read: Ancient, vulnerable, inefficient: the sales tax system is creaking on all sides

Afterthought

These problems are just the beginning of the misery that awaits us if we continue on our current course. For far too long, digital infrastructure has been treated as an afterthought by administrators. Executors are given a limited renovation budget, only to lose it in the meantime and see all the work disappear into the trash bin. ICT talent is also undervalued in the government, resulting in increasing staff shortages. Due to a lack of internal knowledge, it is not possible to write proper tenders, causing greedy private parties and consultancies to walk away with hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ money. And if the decision is made to build something internally, policymakers hardly think about the technical implementation. Programmers are then confronted with unfeasible or extremely impractical plans, without being able to make any adjustments.

ICT talent is undervalued by the government, causing staff to leave

This cannot go on any longer. Politicians must see the digital functioning of the government as a crucial matter and radically change course before the ship sinks. ICT must be high on the agenda for the upcoming formation. We are already making a first step with a number of policy proposals, based on the best advice from committees, professors and top technical talent.

First of all, politicians must seriously invest in ICT renovation. We must stop just sticking plasters on very old systems and take a real step towards modernization. That is why technical debt must be reduced to zero in ten years.

To achieve this, there must be digital first implementing bodies will be established that can take up projects if they have stalled with the other implementers. Within these organizations, IT professionals must be able to build without the baggage of decades of outdated computer systems, processes and internal politics. By giving the cabinet the choice to, for example, place sales tax as a framed project with such an executor, we also prevent even more knowledge from leaking to private parties.

In addition, we want to make it more attractive for technical talent to work for the public good, with a market-based scale system in which you can grow without having to become a manager. Furthermore, IT professionals must be involved in policy making. This means that technical obstacles are identified early and adjustments can be made in time during the legislative process.

Standardized

Look at the country with the most digitalized government in the world: Estonia. There they have it X roadsystem that connects all government services in a secure, transparent and standardized manner. Through the once onlyprinciple, citizens and companies only have to share information with the government once and it is only stored in one place. This means that data can no longer ‘float around’ and citizens have control over who can view what data. These types of implementation principles are not only desperately needed, but will soon even be mandatory under European legislation. If we want to be able to comply with this on time, the government must take action quickly.

Reprogramming the government is not just about saving money, retaining knowledge and increasing agility. It is also about renewed confidence in governance. That is why now is the time to break the digital standstill.