CSSA will look into IT failures.

The Computing Services and Software Association will investigate government IT blunders and will publish a 'rough guide' to successful IT projects.

The Computing Services and Software Association (CSSA) is conducting an inquiry into government IT blunders and will publish a 'rough guide' to successful IT projects.

The industry group said it will look at why the 'private sector does well on IT projects but the public sector fails'. CSSA director general John Higgins said the group will focus on high-profile failures such as the Passport Agency, as well as successes.

Higgins said the CSSA inquiry will cost a six-figure sum and will operate in tandem with the Cabinet Office investigation into public sector projects announced by the government in October. Higgins denied there will be an attempt to clear the suppliers and blame government. 'Any whitewash is not in our interests,' he said. 'The industry will put forward what lessons can be learned and how to communicate these lessons. The problems have been looked at many times, but we still have them.'

The CSSA is looking for an independent figure to chair the steering group.The inquiry will report in April, and the guide to successful projects will follow at an unspecified date.

Earlier this month, a report from the Commons Public Accounts Committee identified 25 government IT projects over the last decade that gave poor value for money. These include the Passport Agency system that caused a backlog of 500,000 applications and the Ministry of Defence Trawlerman system that was abandoned without ever being used.