Govt engaged in $7.2bn worth of large IT projects

Federal government departments are engaged in 72 IT projects worth more than $10 million, with a total estimated lifetime cost of $7.2 billion, an audit by the Digital Transformation Agency has found.

Of these, 16 are for service delivery, 19 are security projects and 13 are for internal government resource management, Assistant Minister for Cities and Digital Transformation Angus Taylor announced.

The DTA will provide assistance to these projects to ensure they are successful and efficiently delivered, and plans to focus its resources on 17 projects deemed to have a high impact or high value.

For such priority projects, the DTA will typically provide services including embedding staff, providing advice, and holding reviews and workshops on IT procurement, digital design, technologies and delivery approaches.

Taylor said the audit is aimed at taking the government through the process of centralisation of management data that took place in the private sector decades earlier. Breaking down barriers to reform and reducing duplication of spending and resources is a key priority for the DTA.

“Government invests an enormous amount every year in IT. With a good read on that investment, we can start to adjust, just like the private sector has been doing for decades,” Taylor said.

“With accurate data, we are now reshaping many projects across government. With oversight from a committee of Cabinet dedicated to digital and data users of government IT — and that's all of us — we will start to see the benefits of that reshaping in coming weeks and months.”

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/vege

Follow us and share on Twitter and Facebook