The government of Western Australia will fund the Office of the Government Chief information Officer for another 12 months.
The WA budget, handed down today, earmarks $9.24 million for OGCIO — but the future of the office is still uncertain: Budget documents note that it will cease operations on 30 June 2018, “pending a decision as part of the 2018-19 Budget process”.
Last year’s budget did not earmark funding for the office beyond the 2017-18 financial year, despite the office being tasked with implementing the 2016-2020 Digital WA strategy.
The office was established in 2015 by the former state government with Giles Nunis appointed WA’s CIO in September of that year and tasked with deliver significant ICT savings across government.
The OGCIO is overseeing the state’s ambitious $3 billion ICT overhaul, dubbed GovNext.
GovNext has three key components: Consolidating government data centres and providing a dedicated government cloud (GovCloud); rolling out a unified network for government (GovNet); and the establishment of a GovtNext-ICT Service Broker team.
The program aims to decommission 60 data centres and around 200 server rooms, consolidating government agencies into three data centres (operated by NextDC, Pier DC and Metronode).
“Effective use of best practice information and communications technology (ICT) in the public sector will involve agencies moving to GovNext and purchasing ICT infrastructure services on demand under the whole-of-government procurement arrangement,” budget documents state.
“The Office will continue to assist agencies transition to the new arrangements, but delayed adoption may affect the ability of agencies to deliver better services.”
Another major priority for the office has been implementing the myWA Digital Services Program, which aims to reduce the number of agency websites. The aim is to deliver a “one stop shop” for government services akin to Service NSW and Service Victoria.
“Legislative constraints limiting the sharing of data between agencies may affect the impact of this program as it progressively rolls out to the community,” budget documents state.