Six questions to guide smart support for GovTech IT projects

Over the years of working in digital government and public sector innovation, I’ve seen hundreds of ideas for IT projects. Many of them were well-intentioned and ambitious – but not all of them were realistic or sustainable. With limited resources and growing expectations, deciding which initiatives truly deserve support is actually never straightforward.

Here is a simple framework of six key questions I developed, based on experience from both successful and not-so-successful cases, that I would advise you to ask before deciding whether to commit to an IT project.

They will help assess an IT initiative’s feasibility and long-term value. Ultimately, this will save time, reduce risks, and help ensure that your support goes to initiatives that make a real difference to people.

1. Is there confirmed and documented political support?

Political ownership is the foundation of any successful digitalisation initiative. Before providing support, it is essential to ensure that the idea is backed by a relevant government institution – and that this support is clearly documented.

Start by identifying all relevant stakeholders – the institutions that will be directly involved in developing and operating the service. If any of these actors are not fully engaged or have different priorities, the project’s quality, pace, and outcome will inevitably suffer.

Ensure that all partners share a collective understanding of the goal and remain equally invested in achieving it. Lack of such alignment early on often leads to significant delays or even failure during implementation.

Political commitment must be reflected in formal documentation. Ideally, it should come as an official request letter from the partner institution, or a meeting protocol signed by both parties.

In exceptional cases, an email from the official account of a senior manager or deputy head of the institution may serve as temporary confirmation.

2. Do you have the required IT competencies in the team (or access to external experts)?

Before committing to support an initiative, assess whether the project team has the necessary expertise, or at least has access to external experts who can fill the gaps.

Key competencies to look for:

• Collecting, analysing, and documenting business requirements

• Describing and modelling business processes

• Stakeholder communication and coordination

• Basic understanding of IT architecture and software development

• Project management (control, prioritisation, meetings)

• Cybersecurity fundamentals

• Quality assurance and testing.

Having these skills ensures that the team can translate policy or service needs into well-structured technical requirements, manage implementation, and maintain quality control.

Stay alert when proposals include niche or trendy technologies, often added for the sake of making a project look more innovative than it really is. A few years ago, the tech buzzword was blockchain – now it’s often AI. Integrating such technologies without a technically justified or functional need can lead to unnecessary complexity and higher long-term costs. When a project suggests using advanced technology without a clear rationale or capacity plan, that’s a red flag.

3. Will this initiative have significant positive impact?

Not every digital idea has real impact. When evaluating a proposal, it is crucial to understand how much value it will create for citizens and institutions – and whether that value justifies the effort, cost, and the time required to deliver it.

Look for such features:

• Societal importance: Does the initiative address an urgent public need or pain point, especially in critical areas such as social protection, healthcare, or recovery services?
• Size and profile of the target audience: How many people will benefit? Who are they – people in general, or specific groups such as veterans, pensioners, or families with children?
• Historical and forecasted statistics: What data is available about demand – such as the number of services delivered, applications submitted, and potential users? These figures help estimate future impact.
• Strategic relevance: Does the initiative serve as a foundation for other critical projects or systems, enabling broader digital transformation?
• Inclusivity and gender-responsiveness: Does it consider the needs of vulnerable or underrepresented groups, including women, persons with disabilities, or people living in remote areas?

When assessing impact, numbers matter – but so does context. A service that helps a smaller but highly vulnerable group can be just as important as one with millions of users. For example, under the UNDP DIA Support Project, with support from Sweden, we helped digitise adoption services. These e-services do not generate high usage statistics, but from a social perspective are immensely important, especially during war.

The goal is to ensure that each supported initiative contributes meaningfully to improving people’s lives and advancing inclusive digital governance.

4. Will the product be viable in the long term?

Even the best-designed product can quickly lose its value if there is no plan or capacity to maintain and operate it after the project ends. The recipient has to be ready to take full ownership of the future product, both from the technical and organisational points of view.

The recipient must ensure:

• Readiness to take the product on balance: The system should be officially registered and accepted by the responsible institution (recipient).
• Hosting, servers, and system administrators in place: The infrastructure and human resources required for smooth operations must already exist or be planned.
• User support arrangements: There should be a clear process for handling user inquiries, troubleshooting, and updates after launch.
• Commitment to renew licences independently: The institution must be ready to cover recurring costs for software licences, hosting, and maintenance beyond the project’s duration.

Technical capacity is key. Think whether the recipient institution has its own hosting facilities or data centre and qualified technical staff to manage the system, and how the costs for subscription-based software or services that require ongoing payments are expected to be covered when the project is complete.

Lack of sustainability planning or weak technical capacity often results in products that are technically functional but practically unusable after the project closes. Ensuring long-term viability from the start is therefore a shared responsibility between the implementing partner and the recipient institution.

5. Can the initiative be implemented within six months at a reasonable cost, or can it be divided into phases?

Feasibility is where ambition meets reality. Even if an initiative looks promising, it needs to be achievable within a realistic timeframe and budget. Overly complex or poorly scoped projects tend to stall, especially when key details are missing at the initial stages.

For a preliminary assessment, there should be a sharp vision of the expected outcome at minimum. Ideally, a description of business processes, or even the full technical requirements, should be in place. This documentation helps evaluate the actual effort and cost needed for implementation.

Always validate a cost estimate from the recipient – either by comparing with similar projects (for example, using open data like the public procurement platform Prozorro in Ukraine) or by consulting experts with relevant experience.

If the initiative cannot be completed within six months, it should be divided into phases. Each phase must deliver a fully functional and usable component that can operate independently of subsequent stages. If some result cannot be used or deployed until later phases are completed (e.g., part of a module that becomes functional only after future integrations), this is a red flag.

A well-structured, phased approach reduces risks and ensures that users can benefit from early outcomes even as the larger system continues to develop.

6. Does the initiative align with the project?

An initiative needs to align with project objectives and available resources. This ensures that every supported activity contributes to the project goals, indicators, and overall results framework.

Check such points:

• Consistency with project objectives and activities: Does the initiative clearly contribute to the project’s mandate?
• Contribution to indicators and results framework: Will it produce measurable outcomes that strengthen the project’s performance?
• Availability of financial resources: Are sufficient funds available within the project budget to implement it effectively?

If a proposed initiative doesn’t fit the scope of your project, you can connect the partner with another project within your organisation that could take it forward. All the collected information will make that handover smoother and increase chances that the idea will eventually be supported.

In conclusion — Lessons from experience

Supporting digital transformation is never just about technology – it’s about making informed, balanced choices. Each request for support represents both an opportunity and a potential risk if not accurately assessed.

The six questions in this framework can help you pause, think critically, and consider important nuances when evaluating new initiatives or ideas.

They are not strict rules. You can proceed with implementing an IT initiative even if not all six answers to these questions are “yes.” But if you’ve answered “no” so some of them, this indicates potential risks that require special attention or additional mitigation measures from you.