United Kingdom
Government ICT Strategy: Smarter, cheaper, greener
The vision presented in this document indicated that an optimal use of ICT resources (by means of using cloud computing) by public sector units may bring savings amounting to GBP 3.2 billion a year. The government defined 14 key strategic areas, some of which are:
• “The Government Cloud (G-Cloud)” – using cloud computing realizes use of government ICT resources, e.g. to increase capabilities, security, lower costs, and accelerate implementation processes.
• “Data Center Strategy” – consolidating several hundred data centers used by the government and decreasing their number to 12.
• “Government Applications Store (G-AS)” – establishing an on-line
applications store for government institutions aimed at decreasing costs and accelerating purchasing processes.
• “Shared Services” – resource sharing and utilizing the same applications in the cloud by many public administration units, mainly in the areas of HR, finances and purchases.
Figure 4.1: Great Britain 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Partial strategies of the Government ICT Strategy: Government Cloud Strategy Greening Government ICT
Strategy
Government End-User Device Strategy ICT Capability Strategy
October 2011
Government ICT Strategy. Smarter, cheaper, greener
January 2010
Government ICT Strategy
March 2011
Application Store
February 2012
ICT Strategy for Government
Government ICT Strategy
After coming into power in 2010, the new government released a subsequent ICT strategy in March 2011 indicating further consolidation of ICT resources, data centers, and the use of cloud computing. In October 2011, it released four partial strategies to complement the main ICT strategy: “Government Cloud Strategy,” “Greening Government ICT Strategy,” “End-User Device Strategy,” and “ICT Capability Strategy.”
Government Cloud Strategy
The strategy presents a vision of G-Cloud – a cloud-based solution that is neither a service, a project, nor an application. It is a government program aimed at changing the purchasing process and using ICT resources at public sector organizations. G-Cloud was based on the following assumptions: • shared government resources, infrastructure, software, and information
accessible from various end-user devices (portable computers, smart phones, tablets);
• communication via a network connection – often the Internet; • discontinuance of the use of expensive custom-made systems;
• changes to purchasing and use of cheap, standard, and compatible with other systems applications;
• a once purchased application should be re-used by other government units; • purchasing only the services that are required by the government
administration;
• the principle of selecting a solution based on the public cloud whenever possible – however, at all times the acceptable risk level needs to be ensured, and it needs to be proven that the selected solutions meet all requirements concerning information security assigned to a given area. The intended key component for G-Cloud was the “Government Application Store”, a portal, which was to be the primary source for all public administration units with any ICT needs. It was launched in February 2012 under the
CloudStore name. It is an open platform, fully transparent to the administration, the market, and to citizens. It is to promote innovation, foster competition between providers, and attract new providers (enabling smaller providers to enter this market). Additionally, the portal makes it possible to assess services and providers and helps to buy the solution that fits best requirements, paying the lowest price. Because all public institutions that can use CloudStore are treated as a one customer, the prices for cloud solutions are lower than those individually purchased.
The CloudStore has been launched to enable public sector units to purchase services without the tender offer process, and the offered products were to undergo prior accreditation.
USA
25-point Implementation Plan to Reform Federal Information Technology Management
According to this plan published in December 2010 to implement a federal IT resources management reform, the US government announced an immediate transition to the so-called “Cloud First” policy. The strategy outlined the following courses of action:
• the use of commercial cloud computing solutions by public sector units, whenever possible;
• the launch of private government clouds and the use of regional clouds by local and state governments;
• public sector commitment to use cloud computing solutions to the realization of new ICT solutions deployments, as long as a secure, reliable and cost-efficient solution is available;
• the government undertakes to ensure secure government platforms to facilitate the conversion to cloud computing solutions;
• each federal agency was obligated to identify three so-called “must move” services1;
• access to cloud computing services offered by commercial providers accredited by the government for government units2.
Federal Cloud Computing Strategy
The Federal Cloud Computing Strategy was a subsequent document published in February 2011 by the Federal Information Technology Management, U.S. Chief Information Officer. The document covered:
• benefits and compromises related to the implementation of cloud computing solutions;
1 These are supposed to be IT services intended for transfer to the cloud for the purpose of enhancing
the efficiency of use of government administration IT resources. The agencies had 12 months to develop a migration plan and transfer the first of the identified services, and 18 months to transfer the remaining two services.
• the decision-making structure and case studies to support agencies in the process of migrating to the cloud environment;
• the programs and tools available for supporting agencies in the migration process;
• identification of the federal government’s roles and responsibilities in the acceleration of the migration process.
The Strategy obligates agencies to reevaluate their IT resource use and to modify it according to the “Cloud First policy” in order to reflect the benefits of cloud computing (optimization of resource use, increasing their flexibility, and reducing their cost of use). The document also specified the phases of an evaluation and migration framework process.
Figure 4.2: Migrating to cloud computing strategy divided by phases pursuant to the Federal Cloud Computing Strategy (USA)
Provision
Select Manage
Source: The White House Washington, Federal Cloud Computing Strategy, 2011
Identify which IT services
to move and when - Identify sources of
value for cloud migrations: efficiency, agility, innovation - Determinate cloud readiness: security, market availability, government readiness, and technology lifecycle Aggregate demand at
department level where possible
Ensure interoperability
and integration with IT portfolio
Contact effectively to
ensure agency needs are met
Realize value by
repurposing or decommissioning legacy assets and redeploying freed resources
Shift IT mindset from
assets to services
Build new skill sets as
required
Actively monitor SLAs to
ensure compliance and continuous improvement
Re-evaluate vendor and
service models periodically to maximize benefits and minimize risks
Source: Federal Cloud Computing Strategy, 2011, US Dept. of Homeland Security
The Federal Cloud Computing Initiative (FCCI) was launched in 2009. FCCI is administered by a working group of IT experts from over 25 federal agencies and departments. The FCCI’s main objective is to popularize cloud computing solutions in the public sector by facilitating access to such services for government agencies and simplifying the tender offer procedure.
Apart from the aforementioned “Federal Cloud Computing Strategy”, the FCCI coordinated the development of a Cloud Computing definition (according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology – “NIST”) and the launch of a government portal, “Apps.gov”.
Selected initiatives supporting cloud computing development • Apps.gov
Apps.gov was launched in 2009 as one of the tools used by the US government to promote cloud computing solutions. Through Apps.gov, cloud computing services, including IaaS, business applications, social media software, and software facilitating an increase in government agencies’ productivity are made available to agencies. All applications
• FedRAMP
FedRAMP (Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program) is intended to accelerate the authorization process for cloud computing solutions. The “Federal Information Security Management Act” (FISMA) and NIST publications provide government agencies with guidelines regarding safe implementation and use of cloud computing services. Nevertheless, the interpretation and means of implementing these requirements and standards vary among individual agencies, which make the authorization process time consuming. The FedRAMP program enables agencies to use the results of authorization already carried out by other agencies. It is intended to help establish a consistent method of evaluating and authorizing cloud computing services and make it possible to implement an “evaluate once, use many times” risk evaluation model.
• Office of Management and Budget (OMB) – budgeting guidelines
The Office of Management and Budget released a general government policy regarding planning, budgeting, purchasing, and managing federal IT assets. The guidelines, released by OMB, required government agencies to implement cloud computing solutions, if such solutions are significantly more beneficial than the current ones. Moreover, OMB required all government agencies to carry out an assessment of alternative solutions offered in the cloud for:
• planned and currently implemented IT investments;
• IT investments intended to improve existing solutions;
• all operating IT investments;
and to submit an official report on the assessment until September 2011, September 2012 and September 2013, respectively.
• Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative
Government analyses indicated a low level of IT resources utilization, a lack of cooperation among government agencies in regards to sharing an IT infrastructure, and the high operating costs of IT resources, e.g. the number of governmental data centers increased from 432 in 1998 to 2,094 in 2010. In response to the results of these analyses, a Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative (FDCCI) was launched in February 2010. Its objective is:
• to reduce the cost of software, hardware, and labor required to operate the data centers;
• to increase the security of IT infrastructure used by the government;
• to support investments in more efficient technologies, e.g. in cloud computing;
• to promote the use of the so-called “green” IT solutions in order to reduce electrical consumption.
FDCCI guidelines required government agencies to inventory their data center resources and to prepare consolidation plans in order to account for the costs in budgets created for the year 2012. Thanks to the FDCCI, the government plans on closing down a minimum of 800 data centers by the year 2015. FDCCI guidelines outline four methods to be used in the consolidation process:
• liquidation of redundant servers;
• centralization of data centers;
• virtualization; Central and Eastern Europe Ltd., a limited liability compan y and a member firm of the KPMG netw ork of independent affiliated with KPMG International Cooperativ e (“KPMG International”), a Swiss entity . All rights reserv ed.
Other selected countries
Table 4.1: Australia, Japan, Singapore
Country Selected information on the strategy for cloud computing utilization by public administration Australia “Cloud Computing Strategic Direction Paper” – published in
2011 by the Australian government describing the government’s approach to cloud computing, which was developed following conferences attended by over 50 state-owned institutions, companies, and individuals.
• The strategy views cloud computing as a new way to provide selected ICT resources for governmental needs, and not just as a technology or a specific solution.
• The document also adopts a stance on the decision to use a cloud. Public administration agencies should use cloud computing services if:
• such services offer a good value for money;
• such services ensure appropriate level of security – which entails meeting all mandatory requirements regarding information security.
• CLIC (Cloud Information Community) is a team composed of representatives of government agencies and individuals from various branches. The team is responsible for the development of subsequent documents within the realization of the strategy. The team collaborates, among others, with AIIA (Australian Information Industry Association).
• Cloud computing is also associated with two other government initiatives:
• the construction of a National Broadband Network; and • the commitment to use open systems and standards,
by taking into account the use of open source software, among other things.
• Prior to the strategy publication, the Australian government had actively used cloud computing, e.g.:
• many publicly available data and government Internet sites were transferred to the cloud;
• services, based in a public or a private cloud, were implemented by numerous other government agencies.
Country Selected information on the strategy for cloud computing
utilization by public administration
Japan In Japan, the cloud computing strategy is defined by two
documents published in 2010: a development strategy released by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) and a strategy released by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI).
• The Japanese strategy intends to maximize the use of cloud computing and to stimulate the development of new markets. The government should create an environment for development through financing research and development and by promoting the use of various services in the cloud. • The strategy postulates:
• the development of a suitable legal framework specifying the principles of cloud use;
• the development of an advanced ICT industry with particular attention to cloud computing.
• The strategy also focuses on reduction of carbon emissions. • Kasumigaseki Cloud – a platform to be used by ministries and
central government agencies (community cloud). • The government plans to launch it by the year 2015. • It is intended to offer shared services, allow for integration
and consolidation of hardware assets, and, as a result, reduce costs and increase the quality of services for citizens. Jichitai Cloud – a cloud intended to support local governments. • The government has been developing this solution since
2010, and by 2015, it will include all local government units. • Its aim is to reduce administrative costs related to the
resident data management, tax issues, and strengthen cooperation between local governments.
J-SaaS – a platform providing software according to the SaaS model directed at small to medium-sized enterprises.
• Created by the government, J-SaaS offers services related to financial reporting, tax, security and project management, as well as analytical tools.
Country Selected information on the strategy for cloud computing
utilization by public administration
Singapore “eGovernment Masterplan 2011-2015. Collaborative Government
(eGOv 2015)” – a document published by the government in Singapore in 2011.
• The document describes a strategy for the use of the latest ICT technologies with the purpose of creating an interactive environment promoting teamwork between the government, society, and private sector. One of the key areas of this strategy consists of a transformation of the infrastructure and services provided by the public sector through the use of the cloud, among others.
• The strategy guidelines assume the use of:
• commercial public clouds – for providing services with less strict security management requirements with the purpose to reduce IT infrastructure costs;
• private government cloud (Central G-Cloud) – for providing services with stricter security management requirements for all government units;
• private clouds for government agencies (Agency G-Cloud) – created in case when solutions offered by the Central G-Cloud and public clouds are unable to satisfy the specific requirements of individual departments; it is required that the created cloud integrates with the Central G-Cloud.
• Moreover, Central G-Cloud is to serve as a platform for other centrally-governed services provided by the government, such as:
• SingPass (access authorization system) and e-payment services;
• providing applications in the form of the SaaS model to government agencies for the customers/citizens’ relations management and Internet service content management, among others.