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02 · Digital Government

Digital government that works for citizens.

FMA helps governments build public services that are simpler for citizens, more efficient to operate and easier to improve.

Drawing on the experience of establishing the UK Government Digital Service and GOV.UK under Lord Maude as Minister for the Cabinet Office, we combine an understanding of the political and institutional conditions for reform with specialist digital delivery expertise.

We work alongside ministers and senior officials to establish a coherent digital strategy, redesign priority services around users, modernise technology procurement and government payments, and develop lasting in-house digital capability.

How FMA can help Contact FMA

The government challenge

Citizens and businesses increasingly expect government services to be as accessible, responsive and seamless as those offered by the private sector. Yet in many administrations, digital decision-making remains fragmented across ministries and agencies, with unclear responsibilities between individual entities and the centre of government.

Departments frequently develop separate websites and systems, duplicating investment and becoming dependent on costly long-term supplier contracts. Complex procurement processes can exclude smaller, innovative technology providers, while revenue collection and payments often continue to rely on manual processes that are slow, expensive and vulnerable to error or leakage.

Meanwhile, scarce digital expertise is often concentrated among external contractors rather than within the civil service. The result is public services that frustrate users, cost too much and are difficult to improve.

How FMA can help

5 ways we work with governments.

01Digital Strategy & Governance

One digital direction across government.

Digital and data functions frequently operate in organisational silos, with unclear responsibilities between central government and individual ministries or agencies. Decisions become fragmented, investment is duplicated and accountability for delivery can fall between institutions.

Discuss your priorities

FMA helps governments establish a coherent digital direction by aligning strategies, designing effective organisational structures and strengthening the mandate of central digital leadership.

We advise on the roles, responsibilities and powers of central digital units, common technology and service standards, and controls over digital and technology expenditure so that proposals can be challenged before funds are committed.

Our approach draws on the UK's experience of establishing the Government Digital Service (GDS), supported by central spending controls, while adapting the institutional and governance model to each country's political and constitutional context.

What this gives you

Aligned digital strategies, an organisational model for digital and data functions, and a clear mandate for central digital leadership, supported by common standards, governance arrangements and expenditure controls.

Selected experience

UK GOVERNMENT · 2011–2015

Establishing Central Digital Leadership

Under Lord Maude's leadership as Minister for the Cabinet Office, the UK Government established the Government Digital Service to strengthen central leadership of digital transformation, introduce common digital standards and coordinate technology spending across departments.

Digital and technology spend controls delivered £391 million in savings in 2014/15, while wider digital and technology activities contributed £1.7 billion in savings against a 2009/10 baseline.

Discuss your priorities

02Digital Service Delivery

Public services designed around the people who use them.

Digitising an existing paper form does not necessarily create a better public service. Citizens may still face confusing websites, repeated requests for information and lengthy processing times, while government staff manage avoidable errors, enquiries and manual workarounds.

Discuss your priorities

FMA helps governments redesign high-volume public services from end to end, starting with the needs of users rather than existing administrative structures.

We support the prioritisation of services for reform, establish multidisciplinary delivery teams and introduce short, iterative delivery cycles that enable governments to demonstrate progress and adapt services based on user feedback.

We also advise on consolidating fragmented government websites into a single trusted domain and developing reusable components, such as digital identity and notifications.

Our approach draws on the UK's GOV.UK programme and its focus on accessible, joined-up and user-centred government services.

What this gives you

A prioritised pipeline of services for redesign, working and user-tested services delivered by multidisciplinary teams, and a roadmap for a single government website and reusable shared digital platforms.

Selected experience

UK GOVERNMENT EXPERIENCE · 2012–2015

Transforming Public Service Delivery Through GOV.UK

Launched in October 2012, GOV.UK replaced Directgov and Business Link with a single digital platform for UK Government information and services.

By November 2014, 1,882 government websites had closed, reducing duplication and simplifying access to public information. GOV.UK delivered £61.5 million in savings in 2014/15.

Alongside this, the UK Government's digital exemplars programme targeted the redesign of 25 high-volume public services around user needs.

Discuss your priorities
Portrait of Gerry Duignan

Your Digital Service Delivery lead

Practical experience.
Personal commitment.

Gerry Duignan

Director

Gerry leads FMA’s Commercial & Procurement work. He has over 10 years’ experience in government procurement, and has earned an impressive record of procurement savings for various government ministries, including the Ministry of Housing and the Department for the Environment. Gerry also played a key role in the design and build of the commercial function for the new Department of International Trade, which was nominated for a Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply award in 2019.

Meet Gerry

03Digital Procurement

Buy technology faster, at lower cost and from a wider market.

Government technology procurement is often lengthy, complex and dominated by a small number of large suppliers operating under multi-year contracts. This can limit competition, exclude smaller innovative firms and leave governments dependent on systems that are expensive to maintain or change.

Discuss your priorities

FMA helps governments modernise technology procurement by opening markets, strengthening commercial capability and enabling more flexible approaches to purchasing digital services.

We support the design of digital procurement frameworks and online catalogues that allow government buyers to compare and purchase cloud and digital services more efficiently. We also advise on disaggregating large outsourcing contracts as they expire and developing the commercial expertise needed to manage technology suppliers effectively.

Our approach draws on the UK's G-Cloud framework and Digital Marketplace, adapted to local procurement legislation, institutional arrangements and development partner requirements.

What this gives you

Digital procurement frameworks and a simplified route to purchasing technology services, together with a plan for restructuring expiring technology contracts and strengthening government's commercial capability to manage suppliers.

Selected experience

A GULF GOVERNMENT AUTHORITY · 2022

Digital Procurement Framework Agreements

FMA supported a Gulf digital government authority in strengthening its approach to digital procurement.

The engagement involved assessing existing procurement practices, identifying gaps and defining a target operating model that placed greater emphasis on strategic commercial considerations.

FMA developed recommendations for earlier procurement involvement through feasibility studies and business cases, clearer procurement pipelines, and more effective review of Requests for Proposals.

The team also proposed revised evaluation criteria and procedural changes, alongside amendments to a Cabinet resolution intended to strengthen the authority's oversight and enforcement powers.

The engagement supported the launch of the authority's first procurement framework agreement for digital infrastructure and enabled the delivery of new digital service pilots.

Discuss your priorities

UK GOVERNMENT · 2012

Opening Technology Procurement to a Wider Market

The UK Government launched G-Cloud in 2012 to make cloud and digital services easier to purchase through standardised frameworks and a more accessible supplier marketplace.

The programme helped broaden participation by smaller technology companies and reduce reliance on traditional large-scale technology procurement.

By November 2014, G-Cloud had channelled £184 million to small and medium-sized enterprises, representing just over 53% of expenditure through the framework.

Discuss your priorities
Portrait of Gerry Duignan

Your Digital Procurement lead

Practical experience.
Personal commitment.

Gerry Duignan

Director

Gerry leads FMA’s Commercial & Procurement work. He has over 10 years’ experience in government procurement, and has earned an impressive record of procurement savings for various government ministries, including the Ministry of Housing and the Department for the Environment. Gerry also played a key role in the design and build of the commercial function for the new Department of International Trade, which was nominated for a Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply award in 2019.

Meet Gerry

04Government Digital Payments

Collect government payments securely, efficiently and at lower cost.

In many countries, taxes, fees, fines and government charges are still collected through cash, cheques or manual transactions at public-service counters. Government benefits and supplier payments may depend on similarly fragmented processes.

Discuss your priorities

These arrangements are inconvenient for citizens and businesses, costly to administer and vulnerable to error, fraud and revenue leakage. They can also prevent treasuries from obtaining timely and accurate information about collections and payments.

FMA advises governments on the transition towards digital collection and disbursement. This includes mapping existing payment flows, developing strategies and operating models for common payment platforms, and engaging central banks, commercial banks, mobile money providers and payment networks.

Our support also covers reconciliation, expenditure and revenue controls, treasury reporting and the policy or legal changes needed to reduce reliance on cash over time.

The objective is a simpler, more transparent and more efficient government payments system.

What this gives you

A clear understanding of government payment flows and a costed roadmap for implementing a common digital payments platform, including reconciliation, financial controls and reporting arrangements to improve the treasury's visibility over revenue.

Portrait of Gerry Duignan

Your Government Digital Payments lead

Practical experience.
Personal commitment.

Gerry Duignan

Director

Gerry leads FMA’s Commercial & Procurement work. He has over 10 years’ experience in government procurement, and has earned an impressive record of procurement savings for various government ministries, including the Ministry of Housing and the Department for the Environment. Gerry also played a key role in the design and build of the commercial function for the new Department of International Trade, which was nominated for a Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply award in 2019.

Meet Gerry

05Digital Delivery Capability

Build the in-house skills to sustain digital transformation.

Digital transformation cannot depend indefinitely on consultants and technology suppliers. Where governments outsource core digital capabilities, institutional knowledge can leave when contracts end, limiting the civil service's ability to commission, manage and improve digital services.

Discuss your priorities

Government digital teams also face competing departmental and cross-government priorities, while public-sector pay structures and career pathways can make it difficult to attract and retain specialist talent.

FMA helps governments build lasting digital, data and technology capability within the civil service.

We advise on defining specialist roles and competencies, establishing professional frameworks and career pathways, strengthening recruitment of senior digital leaders and developing the organisational structures needed for effective delivery.

We also support practical learning through work on live services, capability development programmes and communities of practice that allow expertise to be shared across government.

Our approach draws on the UK Government's experience of establishing GDS and developing common digital and technology skills across the civil service.

What this gives you

A professional framework for digital, data and technology roles, including skills requirements, career pathways and recruitment priorities, supported by practical capability development that enables civil servants to lead and sustain digital service delivery.

Selected experience

UK GOVERNMENT EXPERIENCE · 2011–2015

Building Government's Digital Profession

The establishment of the Government Digital Service helped bring specialist digital and technology talent into the UK civil service and strengthen government's internal delivery capability.

In 2014, the UK Government published a cross-government digital and technology skills matrix to support recruitment, professional development and clearer career pathways for specialist digital roles.

These initiatives helped establish a more consistent approach to developing digital capability across government departments.

Discuss your priorities
Portrait of Gerry Duignan

Your Digital Delivery Capability lead

Practical experience.
Personal commitment.

Gerry Duignan

Director

Gerry leads FMA’s Commercial & Procurement work. He has over 10 years’ experience in government procurement, and has earned an impressive record of procurement savings for various government ministries, including the Ministry of Housing and the Department for the Environment. Gerry also played a key role in the design and build of the commercial function for the new Department of International Trade, which was nominated for a Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply award in 2019.

Meet Gerry

Our approach

Side-by-side, from first question to lasting capability.

We do not take over the work, nor simply hand over a manual. FMA works alongside the government’s own team and transfers skills to ensure sustainability.

01

Understand

Work with government leaders to understand objectives, constraints and institutional context.

02

Design

Combine practitioner experience, evidence and international benchmarks to develop practical solutions.

03

Deliver

Implement reform side-by-side with government teams, keeping momentum focused on outcomes.

04

Embed

Transfer capability, strengthen institutions and help reform endure beyond FMA’s engagement.

Digital Government

Discuss your government’s priorities with FMA.

Discuss your priorities