PSN Report for the LCIO Council on 15 July 2010
General
The PSN went through an audit in the week 21-25 June. The report has not been formally signed off but the headline is that the programme should continue, go faster and focus on where it can make and support efficiency savings. Dylan Roberts was interviewed by the review team.
A number of key deliverables are scheduled to be complete by the end of July which will inform on how to transition on PSN and what PSN compliance will mean in practice. This will help organisations to start planning their approach to PSN.
Information Assurance
The original approach of the PSN was to base the IA conditions for PSN on the GCSX CoCo 4.1. CoCo 4.1 is being challenged by local authorities across the country. This would have a direct impact on PSN adoption and the PSN team are actively working with Local Government parties in looking at the major cost issues introduced by CoCo 4.1.
There are two streams of working looking to address this :-
· Stream 1 - Simon Norbury with the Yorkshire and Humber WARP group have reviewed the PSN CoCo 4.2 and are looking to amend so that it is more appropriate to Local Public Services. With this they will look to socialise with SIROs and senior officers across Local Government with a view to them approving and accepting this as an appropriate level of control. This will be socialised back with PSN team and is dependant on what happens in stream 2.
· Stream 2 - In parallel the PSN team have taken a step back and are discussing with CESG the possibility of using GCSX CoCo 3.2 as the baseline and taking a view on what if any changes would be needed for an IL2 PSN CoCo in the light of current threats and risks. This approach has been shared and supported with the members of the LCIO Council actively involved with the PSN.
Procurement
PSN Framework 1 has been drafted as in currently under review. The service descriptions were drafted by IW based on the requirements scope from several local government partnerships. IW with the support of the PSN Programme Director has requested that the OJEU notice be clear that the framework contract will allow for non PSN services like schools connections to be procured allowing local government the option to buy all its telecommunications services form one supplier through one contract. Buying Solutions are presenting and reviewing the proposed framework with representatives from East Midlands on 20 July.
There is a need for framework 1. The paper submitted to the meeting by Brian Tayler form Kent offers a complementary approach through the regular awarding of regionally focussed frameworks. This is an alternative approach to the framework 2 being proposed by Buying Solutions.
Business Case
A local authority business case workshop is being held on 8 July. It includes CIOs, network managers and procurement representatives from a selection of local authorities that have been actively engaged with the PSN programme. The aim is to identify cashable benefits that can be attributed to the PSN. The results of this workshop are attached to this report and will be published by the end of July and incorporated in the PSN Tansition Guide.
PSN Pathway Projects
The “Expedited Delivery” project presented at the previous LCIOC meeting had its start up meeting on 8 July. All the parties – HIOW Partnership, Kent Partnership, Unisys, Virgin Media and Global Crossing – were represented at the meeting. Target is to have circuits installed by mid September with testing followed by live services being carried in October. The project is designed to prove all aspects of the PSN adoption process including commercial, service management and security, not just technical and will be initiated with the submitting of change requests to Unisys and Virgin Media.
A similar project has been started involving central government departments.
JANeT Pilot
JANeT are considering their role in the PSN. Current thinking is that they are best positioned to become a Direct Network Service Provider (DNSP). A series of workshops are being held with a view to JANeT making a decision on whether to proceed or not in the Autumn. This is seen as a cost effective way of delivering connectivity to the PSN as JANeT already has links into all LEAs for the National Education Network. However there will be a cost to making JANeT PSN compliant and Local Authorities may need to have a part in creating the business case.
If the pilot goes ahead then the intention is to take the same approach as that taken with the Pathway Project.
An Official Local Public Services Team in the PSN Team
Dylan Roberts and Ian Wilcox met Leslie Hume (SRO for PSN) to discuss the need to bring in additional resources resulting form the previous paper and request submitted by the Local CIO Council and to specifically ask for a specific team to be set up to deliver to Local Public Services.
Simon Norbury has been recommended by the LCIOC leads on PSN, as a suitable candidate to join the team as a contractor, based on his previous delivery record and positive reputation with Local Government colleagues.
Discussions are continuing with the Programme Director with a view of securing this as well as project management support for a formal PSN Board for Local Public Services to formally track progress and decisions.
These will be concluded following the Local CIO Council.
Engagement
Until now the engagement with Local Government has largely been to present information about the PSN at various forums and follow up any interest. This has led to patchy engagement. Peter Gavin has now joined the PSN team and IW’s workload in championing Local Government interests within the team should start to tail off as products start to be issued. The engagement will start to be more pro-active with Ian and Peter aligning with six Socitm regions each as a way of dividing up the load, although this will be split further with Simon’s appointment.
A paper has been submitted to Socitm Insight requesting support and assistance in obtaining baseline information about every Local Authority. This will enable the PSN team to prioritise their engagement, particularly where PSN type services are planned to be procured in the next 12 months. With the resources available the Local Government PSN team will be able as facilitators rather than a more active role.
Work is in hand to join up with Police and Fire. A paper endorsing the PSN and working with local partners is being presented to the Fire Authority CIOs meeting on 15 July. The programme is also working in a similar way with the NPIA. Health will need further consideration. While there is firm support for the PSN from a number of parts of the NHS and N3 programme there is still work to do on what this means and how the engagement will be encouraged at the PCT level. It is planned to carry out a similar baseline information gathering activity with Police, Fire and Health.
The approach has always been to ensure that CIOs/Heads of IT are engaged and understand the benefits of the PSN before engaging with other senior officers and Members. This has been directly with individual organisations, partnerships and the regional Socitms. In some regions the RIEP is involved and is providing support. A paper is going to the LDGC on 22 July. Planning is now starting to look at how and when we approach Solace, LGS and senior officer groups.
Region by Region
In order to share the work load, Ian Wilcox and Gavin Peters will share the stakeholder engagement. Provisionally the split will be:
Gavin Peters – London, South East, Wales, Scotland, North East and North West
Ian Wilcox – South West, East of England, Northern Ireland, East Midlands, West Midlands, Yorkshire and Humberside.
Peter’s main focus in his first few weeks has been in London.
Ian has engaged to some extent with all regions apart from West Midlands.
More detailed reports by region will be produced for the next meeting. By then it is expected that the status and level of involvement will be known for of 90% of Local Authorities and potentially Police and Fire.
PSN Plans
Following the review PSN Plans are being reviewed. The Pathway project dates have had wide visibility and the demonstration of the viability of the PSN will be a key milestone. Much of the documentation needed to begin planning PSN adoption will be published in the next few weeks with many documents targeted for the end of July.
Ian Wilcox
12 July 2010
LCIOC 15.07.10 – Agenda Item 3 Paper 1