Digital government units: what are they, and what do they mean for digital era public management renewal?

Figures & data

Table 1. Traditional approaches to government IT versus current digital government orthodoxy.

Traditional Approaches to Government IT (‘e-government’)	Current Digital Government Orthodoxy
Waterfall design, the long release cycle	Agile, iterative design
Government-centric (focused on adhering to internal government standards, processes and needs)	User-centric (focused on identifying user needs, and tailoring government standards and processes around these needs)
Limited reliance on data in decision making and design	Heavy reliance on data-driven decision making and design
Managing legacy contracts with a small number of big IT providers	Building in house and procuring with a competitive, pluralistic marketplace
Favors proprietary solutions	Favors open source solutions
Siloed (‘one use’, department/initiative specific project development and IT management)	Horizontal, platform models (‘multiple use’, whole of government project development and IT management)
Risk-averse, process-first, hierarchical organizational culture	Hacker, delivery-first, ‘flatter’ organizational culture

Table 2. Governance structures, resources and powers in DGUs.

DGU	Location in the Machinery of Government	Annual Budget (USD)	Staff	IT Spending Control	IT Hiring Control
Government Digital Service (UK)	Cabinet Office	$140M (£112.5M)^8	653^9	✓	✓
Ontario Digital Service (Canada)	Cabinet Office	$12M ($16M CAD)^10	84^11	X	X
United States Digital Service	Office of Management and Budget (OMB), within the Executive Office of the President of the United States	$14M^12	200^13	X	X
18f (U.S.)	General Services Administration	Cost-recovery, funded by departmental budgets	200	X	X
Australian Digital Transformation Agency	Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet	$18M ($23.9M AUD)^14	100	✓	X
Canadian Digital Service	Strategic Policy Branch, Treasury Board Secretariat	Not available	19^15	X	X

Notes: 1) Unless otherwise specified in endnotes, staff numbers are approximate and breakdown between full-time, part-time, and contract staff unavailable. 2) Budget numbers reflect funding to support the operations of the DGU. DGUs may have access to additional funding allocated to specific projects and digital agendas/strategies on which they work (e.g., $63.7M AUD is allocated annually to support the Australian Digital Transformation Agenda, with $23.9M AUD of that amount allocated annually to the DTA specifically).