Federal administration: additional requirements for IT projects
On July 1, 2015, the Federal Council issued directives on ICT projects in the federal administration and on the federal ICT portfolio, which came into force on the same day. Among other things, it is envisaged that an assessment will be carried out by a central office before large-scale ICT projects are approved. In addition, the scope of the requirements for key ICT projects was expanded.
The directives issued on July 1 take over the content of the previously applicable requirements and have been specifically supplemented with new regulations to optimize the management of ICT portfolios and ICT projects in the federal administration.
Project assessments before release
The new directives stipulate that a project assessment must be carried out before ICT projects with a total cost of more than five million Swiss francs are approved. Experts from outside the project review the quality of the management components and the relevant contextual factors of the project. The recommendations derived from this for the attention of the project-releasing authority are intended to enable improvement measures to be introduced at an early stage if necessary, or problematic projects to be avoided. The project assessments are commissioned centrally by the Federal IT Steering Committee (FSUIT). However, the responsibility for the project release and the subsequent project execution remains unrestrictedly with the project managers and the line organization of the respective administrative units responsible for the project.
Scope of the ICT key projects expanded
The Federal Council now also wants to define ICT projects in the areas of national roads and command and control systems and ICT infrastructures of the armed forces as key ICT projects. Since mid-2013, projects that require increased higher-level management, control and monitoring due to their resource requirements, strategic importance, complexity and risks have been periodically audited by the Swiss Federal Audit Office (SFAO) as ICT key projects. The SFAO's audit reports serve as an independent assessment for the line organization responsible for the project and are published on the SFAO's website. In addition, the Finance Delegation of the Federal Assembly now receives a semi-annual report from the Federal Council on the status of key ICT projects.
The implementation of the new requirements will further increase the success rate of ICT projects in the central federal administration.
Press release Federal Department of Finance
