No need to say it, it goes without saying, it should be obvious to all but,
just in case it isn't obvious to all,
IDA is dead.
IDA, now known as "GOV.UK Verify (RIP)",
is the Cabinet Office Identity Assurance programme.
And it's dead.
Here's a selection of GDS posts and a film in the week leading up to
purdah:
24-03-2015 | Janet Hughes | |
25-03-2015 | Chris Mitchell | |
25-03-2015 | Janet Hughes | |
25-03-2015 | Janet Hughes | |
26-03-2015 | Janet Hughes and Stephen Dunn | |
26-03-2015 | Mike Bracken | |
27-03-2015 | David Rennie | |
27-03-2015 | Mike Bracken | |
27-03-2015 | Mike Beavan | |
28-03-2015 | Mike Bracken | |
28-03-2015 | Mike Bracken | |
29-03-2015 | Mike Bracken | |
29-03-2015 | Liam Maxwell | |
30-03-2015 | Martha Lane Fox | |
Let's take a look at Janet Hughes's
25 March 2015 offering,
New hopefuls join the cortège for GOV.UK Verify (RIP) ... something like that.
The Government Digital Service (GDS) have managed to appoint nine "identity providers" for the second phase of the GOV.UK Verify (RIP) obsequies. You could respond with
the obvious objections yourselves.
But there is something new in Ms Hughes's post:
Public Servant of the Year ex-
Guardian man Mike Bracken CBE CDO CDO, executive director of
GDS and senior responsible owner of the pan-government identity assurance programme now known as "GOV.UK Verify (RIP)", has strict rules for the
vassals in his manor. "
Be consistent, not uniform", for example.
You risk eternal damnation if you break these rules.
Not least in the case of: "
Don't procure, commission".
What was Ms Hughes thinking of? Not only has she embarked on a procurement exercise, she admits (a) to having completed it and (b) to the fact that it's the second time – an open source of shame.
You may wonder what else she's supposed to do. How do you go about establishing an identity management scheme for 60 million Brits without doing a bit of procuring?
Shows how much you know.
In the
new world of GDS you have to
route round Whitehall. That's what Mr Bracken says. You have to
change the organising principle of Whitehall. That's all there is to it. Don't argue,
JFDI. Be
agile. Don't let
the law stand in your way. Think
Estonia. Security is in the
cloud and
vice versa. Forget policy, make a dashboard. This is
government as a platform. That's what the
user needs. Write it on a Post-it® note and bake it into a cake.
Because internet.
That is the superior wisdom. Now do you understand the error of Ms Hughes's ways?