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In other government ICT news this week, 03 June 2013

by Intermedium •
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Suppliers who missed out on a place on Tasmania’s whole-of-government ICT hardware panel have another chance to apply, prior to the extension of the arrangement for a final two years until April 2015. The arrangement is worth approximately $15 million per annum and $114 million over its lifetime. Existing suppliers do not have to reapply, and the scope of the panel remains unchanged.

The Department of Health and Ageing (DoHA) has contracted Ernst & Young to undertake a costing of further strengthening the integration between the Departments' own Financial Management Information System with the Grants Management System it sources from the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.

DoHA has also signed a $4.2 million contract with Fred IT Group for the establishment and operation of the National Prescription Dispense Repository, a new addition to the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record system that will enable a specific view of prescribed medications and directions for consumption. The contract is due to expire in June 2014.

Work on NSW Health’s $170 million Electronic Medications Management program is underway, with a $2.6 million contract going to KPMG to assist with the delivery of the ehealth initiative. The program aims to reduce transcription or dispensing errors in medication by connecting clinicians and pharmacists to all stages of the medication continuum. It is due to be completed in 2020.

Queensland Health Minister Lawrence Springborg has reported falls in the number of contract staff being used by his Government, including a 12 per cent drop in levels of labour hire for IT, contract administration, human resources and finance contractors.

Australian Government Chief Technology Officer John Sheridan has invited feedback on proposed changes to the whole-of-government Common Operating Environment Policy and the Standard Operating Environment Build Guidelines. Draft changes are based on a working group review and focus on incorporating the effects of changing technology, including cloud-hosted office productivity suites.

The Department of Human Services has launched its single-access online myGov portal, providing integrated access to Centrelink, Medicare and Child Support accounts and eHealth details. It will move 1.3 million current users of Australia.gov.au across to the new platform. MyGov will enable users to make claims, link new services, update their details and view payment histories.

Western Australian Premier Colin Barnett has announced staffing cuts and freezes in recruitment and procurement expenditure in response to a mounting state debt of $18 billion.

The Queensland Budget, to be handed down tomorrow, will report revenue falls of over $5 billion. In response, Treasurer Tim Nicholls has announced increases to emergency levies, a deferral of planned increases to the payroll tax threshold and a retraction of expected business and household rebates for increased electricity prices. Keep an eye on the Knowledge Base to find out how ICT will be affected.

 

Related Articles:

Queensland Government names new vendors on $130 million ICT hardware panel

NSW Health Minister lays out $170 million for e-Health

Finance advances ‘tell-us-once’ whole of government service delivery agenda

 

For more information, please contact the Editor (02) 9955 9896.

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