The sharing of secure internet gateways is well underway in the Federal Government, since it launched a program to reduce the number of operational gateways in agencies from 124 to 8 by 2014. The Department of Industry, Innovation, Climate Change, Science, Research and Tertiary Education has signed a $4.1 million contract for secure internet gateway services, which will be sourced under the head agreement between Macquarie Telecom and gateway lead agency, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.
The Department of Health and Ageing has forewarned industry about an approach to market due to commence today, for the provision of an Aged Care Gateway into the health system. The gateway will comprise of a national contact centre including a website, a single national phone number and services for needs assessment and linking. The request for tender will also include solution delivery services relating to case management workflow, client registers and customer relationship and business management products.
The NSW Government will release its 2013-14 State Budget tomorrow at around midday. Treasurer Mike Baird has already indicated that health will form a major focus this year, but has not ruled out major cuts in order to return to surplus in 2014-15. Keep an eye on the Knowledge Base for coverage of the Budget’s ICT implications.
The Commonwealth Treasuryis planning to replace its entire fleet of Blackberry devices with Apple iPhones in the coming weeks, reports the Australian. The initial stage will include around 250 iPhones.
The Department of Human Services has established a Council on Strategy and Innovation made up of leading experts in areas of digital technology, welfare and health who will explore the future of public sector service delivery. Members of the Council with technology backgrounds include:
- Ms Catriona Larritt, General Manager Australia Post – Post Digital;
- Mr Martin Stewart-Weeks, Director, Global Public Sector Practice, Internet Business Solutions Group at CISCO;
- Mr Gerd Schenkel, Executive Director, Telstra Digital;
- Dr Nicholas Gruen, Australian Centre for Social Innovation and Online Opinion; and
- Dr David Williams Group Executive, Information Sciences, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).
The Council is considering the role of technology and self-service options such as DHS’s Express Plus apps suite.
Former Australian Crime Commission Chief Technology Officer Andrew Cann is moving to Western Australia’s Department of Sport and Recreation, reports IT News. As CIO of the Department, Cann will manage its ongoing transformation plan and external service delivery.
The Australian Taxation Office has awarded a $1.2 million contract for the purchase of 2,000 desktops to Hewlett-Packard, under the whole-of-government panel for desktop hardware. The contract term is from 4 June 2013 to 3 July 2013, and the replacement likely represents just under 10 per cent of the agency’s desktop fleet. The ATO is also introducing a number of new online services from 30 June 2013 to assist the lodgement of income tax returns, including a personalised homepage on the ATO website allowing people to update their personal details, check the progress of tax returns and track their super online
The Federal Government has launched a $10 million advertising campaign that is promoting the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record as “Medicare for all”, reports Pulse IT. A new television commercial directs viewers to animated videos explaining the eHealth record and encouraging registration. 250,000 people have signed up so far, considerably short of the forecast of 500,000 registrations by 30 June 2013. The Queensland ICT Audit indicates that the Queensland Government has yet to commence its PCEHR integration project which is valued at an estimated $140.4 million.
Dell is building a dedicated cloud for U.S. Government agencies, and is seeking relevant security credentials in the form of Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program accreditation, reports GigaOM. Amazon, Hewlett-Packard and Lockheed Martin have already received this certification. Dell recently withdrew from the Australian Federal Government’s data centre facilities panel.
Related Articles:
Second last lead agency approaches market for Secure Internet Gateway Services
Health and Ageing joins email exodus
Budget 2013-14: Government writes ICT wish-list, leaves funding for next time
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