[LINK] Review of Australian Government's Use of ICT

Bernard Robertson-Dunn brd at iimetro.com.au
Sat Apr 12 18:26:21 AEST 2008


<brd>
My comments at the bottom, for once.
</brd>

Media Release
The Hon Lindsay Tanner
Minister for Finance and Deregulation
11/2008
11 April 2008
http://www.financeminister.gov.au/media/2008/mr_112008.html

UK Efficiency Expert to Lead Review of Australian Government's Use of 
Information and Communication Technology

Minister for Finance and Deregulation, Lindsay Tanner, today announced 
that Sir Peter Gershon has accepted his invitation to lead an 
independent review of the Australian Government's management of 
information and communication technology (ICT).

The review aims to identify ways in which the Australian Government can 
strengthen the whole-of-government management of ICT and maximise the 
benefits from ICT to drive greater efficiency and better services. The 
review will also examine the way in which agencies manage ICT 
investments, including maintenance, intra-agency links, development and 
staffing.

Mr Tanner said: “The Australian Government has approximately $10 billion 
in ICT assets and spends around $6 billion per annum on ICT encompassing 
procurement, maintenance, development and staff costs. Under the Howard 
Government this spending was completely uncoordinated leading to serious 
inefficiencies and cost blowouts.”

"There are clear opportunities for efficiency gains in information and 
communication technology. But we also want to use this review to ensure 
Australians can access convenient and high quality government services.”

Sir Peter Gershon, a former Chief Executive of the UK Treasury’s Office 
of Government Commerce, has undertaken several major strategic reviews 
for the UK Government on procurement including ICT and public sector 
efficiency. As a result of the reviews conducted by Gershon, the UK 
Government achieved an estimated £23 billion in budget savings.

Mr Tanner said: "Sir Peter’s track record at the most senior levels of 
both industry and government in the UK speaks for itself."

"His expertise as an industry leader, strategist and highly effective 
reviewer of public administration makes him a compelling candidate to 
review the way in which the Australian Government manages its use of ICT."

Sir Peter Gershon will be supported by the Department of Finance and 
Deregulation and will report to the Minister by September 2008 on 
options to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of ICT within 
Government. The review is part of the broader ongoing reform agenda to 
improve the efficiency of government spending and deliver better value 
for money.

</Media Release>

hhmmmm. A few comments.

Sir Peter Gershon was asked to look at "Efficiency in the public 
sector", not cost reduction in IT. In fact in his report "Releasing 
resources to the front line" 
<www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/media//879E2/efficiency_review120704.pdf> he 
seemed to be advocating increased use of ICT, certainly not reducing 
expenditure on it.

 From the report

<quote>
Public sector efficiency has also been driven forward over recent years 
by a number of individual reforms undertaken by departments and other 
public sector bodies. For example:

.... significant investment in information and communications technology 
(ICT) by both central and local government in the 2002 Spending Review 
is streamlining the delivery of services to the public, cutting 
transaction costs and reducing paperwork.

....the use of e-enabled channels for the provision of information and 
delivery of services to the public, .... introducing new initiatives 
designed to introduce electronic facilities to more people and to make 
new technology more accessible to all;

.... savings delivered by e-auctions.
</quote>

ref pages 7 and 8.

<quote>
We want to explore the opportunities to simplify access for the public 
and achieve major efficiencies by accelerating the usage of modern 
technology
</quote>
ref page 38

and in the context of Defence:
<quote>
make better use of its assets and manpower to meet security threats, for 
example by harnessing new technology, yielding annual savings of over £1 
billion;
</quote>
ref page 51

in the context of the Foreign Office:
<quote>
deliver improved ICT, increasing the overall productivity of staff and 
realising efficiencies of about £25 million;
</quote>
ref page 51

etc etc...

Lindsay Tanner seems to have decided to just spend less on ICT, not 
increase the efficiency of the Public Sector by the better use of ICT 
even if it means spending more on ICT.

It's a typical politician's view of life. Let's make a decision and then 
have a study to justify it. They don't seem to realise that cost cutting 
usually leads to inefficiency, and that increasing expenditure on ICT by 
say 10% can lead to Public Sector efficiencies that reduce overall 
expenditure by 10%.

An increase of 10% of the IT budget to get a decrease of 10% in the 
overall budget seems a good deal to me. But, hey, I'm just a systems 
guy, not a politician or economist.

Those numbers are probably wrong, but we won't find out what's possible 
from this review because the terms of reference have already precluded 
examination of this hypothesis and decided that the answer is cost 
cutting, not better delivery of services.

In his review of the UK Public Sector, Sir Peter came to the conclusion 
that more ICT means overall saving. I bet such thinking won't emerge 
from Sir Peter's review of Australian Federal Government IT expenditure 
(or from the 2020 summit). The Finance Minister just wants efficient 
spending, not an efficient Public Sector.

The Howard government was well known for making policy decisions in an 
evidence vacuum. Let's hope the Rudd government doesn't start doing the 
same.

At least Sir Peter is not an economist. According to the Minister's 
press release, Sir Peter is a Member of the Institution of Electrical 
Engineers. Well so was I, until they changed their name a few years back 
to The Institution of Engineering and Technology and now I'm a Member of 
that organisation.

I hope they get the details of the review correct.

Me, picky? Never.

--

Regards
brd

Bernard Robertson-Dunn
Sydney Australia
brd at iimetro.com.au





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