CRN reports that the Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development has signed a five-year, multi-million dollar IT managed services contract with Southern Cross Computer Systems. It says that Southern Cross beat incumbent provider Empired IT and as many as 20 other tenderers to the deal.
AusAid has approached the market to establish a panel for the provision of ICT contractors for use by the agency itself, and other members of the Foreign Affairs and Trade portfolio including the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Austrade and the Australian Secret Intelligence Service. It has also raised the possibility of non-portfolio agencies utilising the panel.
IBM has been awarded two contracts worth a combined $2.1 million to provide ‘architecture program resources’ to the Department of Defence. While the contracts have not been identified as being signed through the Applications Managed Services Partner Arrangement (AMSPA), IBM has been appointed the key provider of services associated with Defence’s Service Oriented Architecture on the panel.
Former Victorian Government Chief Information Officer and current member of the NSW Government’s ICT Industry Advisory Panel, Jane Treadwell, has been appointed the inaugural CEO of the Federal Government’s Centre for Excellence in Public Sector Design. A pilot of the Centre’s operations is being driven by the Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education.
Eija Seittenranta will begin work today as the interim appointment to the Department of Parliamentary Service’s new Chief Information Officer role, while the agency completes a recruitment process to find itself a permanent technology executive.
Prominent Gov 2.0 advocate Craig Thomler has called upon the NSW Government to make it mandatory for agencies to develop a social media policy “to define how the agency will use social media in the course of its activities and make it clear to staff that social media engagement is encouraged and supported within the agency's context”.
The NSW Government has published a draft of its Social Media Policy and is calling for feedback online.
The South Australian Government will integrate goods and services concessions and electronic ticketing on a single seniors smart card which will be able to be used on all Adelaide buses, trains and trams.
Electronic ticketing operator Cubic will fund free top-ups to passengers affected by a system malfunction which saw a number of users of Queensland’s Go Card charged twice when adding value to the public transport smartcard.
The Queensland Government has also announced that it will trial new traffic technology which allows traffic lights to detect the approach of an emergency services vehicle with its siren activated, and change to green to allow for quick passage. The Emergency Vehicle Priority (EVP) system trial is due to take place in Southport from mid-November.
PS News reports that the NSW Department of Trade and Investment, Regional Infrastructure and Services is in the process of consolidating its corporate services functions into its Orange headquarters. It plans on hiring 39 new staff for the rural site.
The NSW Department of Education and Communities has signed a $5.6 million deal with Electroboard Solutions for a video conferencing core infrastructure solution. The contract has been signed through Government Telecommunications Agreement (GTA) category 5.
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