Defence is on the hunt for a new chief information officer to replace its current CIO, Greg Farr.
In a jobs notice on APSjobs, the Department of Defence, made no bones about the difficulty of the role for Farr’s replacement, stating that “the Department of Defence CIO is one of the largest and arguably the most complex ICT role in Australia and the region.”
“The CIO will lead the whole of Defence ICT Strategic Reform Program now underway,” the ad reads. “This seeks to radically reform ICT delivery to the Australian Defence Organisation (ADO) as Defence moves to a Single Information Environment through a series of major innovations.
“To be considered for this role, applicants must have a track record of leading a significant and complex business or government technology related organisation through innovative change and reform. Strong leadership and influencing skills will be evident from how they have delivered reform outcomes and managed risk.”
The apparent forthcoming departure of Farr comes at a critical time for Defence — Farr has, since 2009, led Defence’s massive ICT reform and modernisation program aimed at saving some $1.9 billion over ten years and improve the overall effectiveness and efficiency of ICT services.
Major projects announced under the reform program include a Centralised Processing program, next generation virtual desktop trial, an HR/payroll overhaul, as well as floating the possibility of a Defence app store.
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