AGIMO split into two parts

The Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO) is to be broken into two parts with different reporting lines, less than a month after federal CIO Ann Steward revealed her impending retirement.

A Department of Finance spokesperson told iTnews that the change is part of an internal restructure.

From February 4 next year, AGIMO will become a division of a new Governance and Resource Management Group within Finance.

Glenn Archer, who headed the policy and planning division at AGIMO, will assume the role of chief information officer, reporting to the deputy secretary of the GRMG, Stein Helgeby.

Meanwhile, "the current Agency Services Division of AGIMO will be combined with the (non-ICT) Procurement Division in [Finance] to become the Technology and Procurement Division (TPD) within the restructured Business, Procurement and Asset Management Group," the spokesperson said.

Current asset management and parliamentary services deputy secretary Jan Mason will lead the Business, Procurement and Asset Management Group.

The TPD portion is to be led by AGIMO's former first assistant secretary John Sheridan, who takes on the new role of Australian Government chief technology officer, as well as the Government Procurement Coordinator.

Sheridan will provide whole-of-government service delivery and support. This includes networks, online services and ICT procurement.

There will be no change to budgets after the AGIMO split, the spokesperson said, though the split is expected to generate "further efficiencies in the way the department operates". 

No staff redundancies will occur due to the changes, the spokesperson added, although there may be some "minor redefinition of duties". AGIMO had 229 staff.

According to an AGIMO blog post, Steward's retirement was the impetus for Finance "to consider how we could restructure AGIMO to better meet the ICT needs of the Australian Government."

Steward was federal CIO for seven years. She was also the deputy secretary of AGIMO, but it appears that role will not be filled under the restructure.

AGIMO said the revised structure aligned with the findings of a recent operational review.