Credit: Dreamstime
Western Australia is set to appoint its first government CIO as part of a $25 million reform program to cut costs and deliver better services to the community.
WA premier Colin Barnett and finance minister, Bill Marmion said on Wednesday that the new role would guide ICT reform across the WA government, which is looking for savings and efficiencies.
The ICT Renewal and Reform Fund will establish support for agencies with specific ICT reforms and encourage more efficient and effective arrangements.
It will be funded from targeted reductions in general government agencies’ IT spend, to generate estimated net savings of $85 million, the government said.
The new CIO will initially focus on cutting the cost of ICT across government and enhancing transparency in the delivery of major ICT projects. The officer will create an ICT reform plan over 12 months to support the new direction, the government said.
“With a spend of at least $1 billion a year on ICT, there needs to be better co-ordination, consolidation and prioritisation of these resources across state government,” said Barnett.
“The delivery of ICT services in government has not always been as efficient and effective as it might have been. Information communications technology reform will drive innovation, improve the way we deliver services to the community and deliver better value for the taxpayer,” he said.
Finance minister, Bill Marmion, said WA is well positioned to learn from the experience of other states and from overseas, which have shown that the strongest ICT reform comes from having a broad approach right across government.
He said benchmarking of ICT spend compared to other jurisdictions would identify areas of excellence and opportunities to enhance agency decision-making, rationalise investment, and remove duplication.
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