Justification of ICT Expenditure: Input and Outputs

1 Challenges in justifying the ICT expenditure The discussion commenced by discussing matters affecting the decisions to spend on ICT by government. Dr Kereteletswe indicated that we need to be in a position to justify to the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning the ICT expenditure. The chairman further added that currently the entire world is recovering from the economic melt-down hence this factor is used to justify the ICT budget cuts. Mr Balebetse supported the matter adding that we need to question why ICT is always targeted when budget cuts are made. This tendency shows that the decision makers do not have appreciation of the value-addedness or benefits derived from investing in ICT. The chairman added that this is due to the fact that the benefits from ICT are not immediate as compared to other investments or projects like roads construction, building schools. All the mentioned projects, upon completion one already derives satisfaction that they are having value for the money generated in their development. Hence this results in further challenges to justify the ICT expenditure. The chairman lamented that in most cases when ICT budgets are presented, only 50% of the entire expenditure is requested and this normally covers procurement costs, development costs excluding maintenance costs. With this elimination of some essential services required by ICT departments, it means there will be a need to make further requests to cover the remaining costs after completing the implementation or development of projects for which the budget was intended. This 'coming-back' for more habit is the one that makes decision makers hesitant to release more funds as at this point they are expecting benefits and not more spending. This shows that there is a tendency of requesting less than what we need. Ms Molebatsi asked why now as IT Managers since we know that on top of the implementation /development costs there will be additional costs of maintenance not cover all costs upon request for funding. In answering, Dr Kereteletswe responded that this is due to poor planning by the entire system. He added that if the budget is not results based, it is definitely going to fail. Maintenance costs when included in the budget, the decision makers believe the costing is exaggerated and unrealistic giving an example with the current e