Govt plans APS-wide ICT systems audit

The federal government plans to conduct an urgent whole-of-government audit of the Australian Public Service’s ICT systems and capabilities in response to an independent Review of the Australian Public Service commissioned last year.

The independent review delivered 40 recommendations aimed at helping ensure the public service remains fit for purpose in future decades, in the face of technological, economic, social and geopolitical challenges.

The government has accepted the majority of recommendations and asked the heads of the public service to help implement them. The Secretaries Board, led by the Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet Philip Gatjens, will lead the reform effort. The board will be supported by the Australian Public Service Commissioner.

The board and the commission have been allocated $15.1 million to support the implementation. They plan to conduct a sprint in early 2020 to conduct implementation and prioritisation planning and determine any future funding needs.

One of the key findings of the review is there is a vital need for the Australian Public Service to make better use of digital technologies and data, and to strengthen its data and digital technology skills base to accommodate this.

The report contains a number of recommendations aimed at improving the government’s digital position. These reforms will be essential to helping the APS meet the government’s data and digital ambitions for the next 10 years, the report states.

One recommendation includes conducting a whole-of-government ICT audit to detect any deficiencies in terms of ICT spending, systems and capability.

This recommendation was in part included in response to the finding that the APS is spending a high proportion of its annual ICT budgets towards operating costs rather than on growing or transforming capabilities. In 2015–16, opex costs accounted for 78% of the APS’s $6.2 billion in ICT spending.

“[The APS] needs to take full advantage of current and future technologies to deliver the enhanced services which the Government has committed to and Australians expect,” the report states.

“This will require consolidation of functions and planning for, and investing in, a digitally enabled APS. It will need to start with a comprehensive audit of all ICT budgets, expenditure, with government assets and systems, followed by a whole-of-government ICT services in Australia blueprint.”

The audit, to be conducted by the Digital Transformation Agency and the Department of Finance, will seek to identify all current and forecast ICT expenditures and assets, legacy or out of support systems, future technology requirements and any urgent ICT capex needs.

The report recommends that the audit be completed within six months and be repeated regularly to enable the ICT blueprint to be updated every two years.

The government has agreed to the recommendation and plans to conduct an urgent audit of the APS’s ICT capabilities, risks and needs. Depending on the outcome, the Secretaries Board will seek approval from government to draw up the proposed ICT blueprint.

Meanwhile, the review found that 58% of APS agencies report being underskilled in digital delivery and 65% of agencies cite a lack of skills and capability as a barrier to using data.

To address this, the report recommends establishing more APS-wide centres of excellence for areas where skills are particularly sought after. At a minimum, it recommends the establishment of a centre for excellence in data analytics.

These centres of excellence would be set up to allow professionals from across academia, business and the community to collaborate on the delivery of improved digital services.

But the government noted that the APS already has centres of excellence in areas including automation, augmented intelligence, digital sourcing, innovation and data.

In addition, the report recommends establishing separate but linked data and digital professions or a combined data and digital profession for the APS, which would prioritise development and retention of core in-house capabilities.

Examples include creating new learning and development opportunities to improve APS-wide generalist data and digital skills, and seeking to attract specialists in areas including advanced analytics, automation, gamification, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.

The government has partly agreed to the recommendation, committing to establish separate data and digital professions for the APS in 2020.

The government has also committed to investing in professional skills and learning programs for APS employees to develop the current and future skills they will need, and agreed or agreed in part to recommendations covering overhauling staff recruitment, retention, professional development and mobility policies.

Meanwhile, the government has agreed to a recommendation to adopt common enabling tools and services for the APS to support efficiency, mobility and cross-agency collaboration.

Its response states that as a first step, the Department of Finance is spearheading plans to build and pilot a whole-of-government enterprise resource planning platform that combines resource and financial data.

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