Appropriate public sector cloud procurement processes crucial

The Asia Cloud Computing Association (ACCA) has published a white paper on best practice recommendations to help government agencies overcome hurdles in purchasing cloud and position themselves to modernise the delivery of government services.

The report From Vision to Procurement: Principles for Adopting Cloud Computing in the Public Sector, outlines a set of principles for government purchase of cloud products. Each principle is accompanied by concrete and actionable recommendations for policymakers and procuring agencies to follow.   

“While governments recognise the value addition of cloud computing and have adopted Cloud First policies, procurement challenges continue to hinder actual adoption of cloud services. Thus, more flexible and agile procurement processes must be adopted”, said Ms Lim May-Ann, Executive Director of the ACCA.

“Cloud-based technologies will drive much of the public sector’s future transformation by presenting a secure and cost-efficient model for delivering citizen-centric services”, said Mr Jarom Britton, Chair of the ACCA’s Public Sector Special Interest Group, ACCA. “Cloud products differ in some meaningful ways from traditional IT resources, which presents governments the ability to drive better outcomes but also requires thoughtful policies and processes to ensure they can capitalise on the potential”.

“Adopting cloud and cloud services will help government agencies to achieve greater efficiency and enhanced citizen inclusion”, added Ms Lim May-Ann, Executive Director of the ACCA. “The ACCA believes that there is a clear need for a forward-looking cloud procurement strategy to create a trusted environment for the public sector to utilise such services.” 

Mr Eric Hui, Chair, ACCA, echoed these views, saying that “the ACCA’s seven principles for public sector cloud procurement will help address government concerns regarding the inherent ability of cloud technologies to safeguard their data and operations, align local regulations with global compliance standards, and enable government agencies to utilise cloud to achieve objectives such as environmental sustainability and improved access to government services.”