By and for authorities
ICTU was founded by the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations and the VNG (Association of the Netherlands Municipalities) on 11th April 2001. ICTU is an institution by and for authorities. "For authorities", because ICTU was created to exclusively carry out assignments for authorities. "By authorities" may be interpreted quite literally. Authorities that give assignments to ICTU become participants in the foundation. They share in the rights and obligations. An authority that gets involved in ICTU makes a dual commitment: an agreement to carry out a programme as well as involvement in the ups and downs of ICTU.

Administrative context
The ICTU Administration is primarily the body which is responsible for the maintenance of ICTU. It represents every government tier: the central government, provinces, local councils and water boards. The Netherlands Ministry the Interior and Kingdom Relations has the statutory power to somewhat determine the outline of the maintenance. It has the right to approve the foundation's annual statement of accounts.

Aims and domain
ICTU's domain is the electronic government. The electronic government's mission is to improve the work processes of the authorities, the service provided to society and interaction with citizens. These values and ideas are nothing new. However through the use of electronic resources the government can offer new types of service provision, customer care and efficiency which are taken to a whole different level.
ICTU is commissioned by authorities to work on IT issues of a generic nature. ICTU's aim is to maximize the government's IT objectives through collaborating with authorities. This means that ICTU is involved with policy development and implementation. Policies are transformed into tangible projects. These issues would normally be the domain of the government. Commissioning ICTU can be seen as an investment. ICTU wants to differentiate itself by offering tangible results: ICTU represents achievement.

Mission and statutory objective
ICTU's mission is: "ICTU helps authorities to improve their ICT performance."
ICTU's statutory objective is: to support authorities in the introduction and implementation of an innovative use of information and communication technology, from now on referred to as: "ICT, and to assist these authorities with any relevant issues which could lead to an improvement of this use, in the broadest sense."