Aus Govt CTO readies cloud email, desktop services

Australian Government CTO John Sheridan has revealed the Department of Finance will go to market to set up whole-of-government email and desktop-as-a-service buying schemes in 2015-16.

Speaking at the GovInnovate conference in Canberra today, Sheridan said a second draft of a scoping study into the 'GovMail' and 'GovDesk' cloud-based procurement options - undertaken by Deloitte - is "in my inbox".

If the scheme goes ahead, it will give federal agencies the option of sourcing email, word processing and other desktop automation applications through a secure government cloud at a subscription price.

“We propose to put that onto the market in 2015-16," Sheridan said.

The services are also being contemplated for inclusion in the federal government’s cloud services panel, he added. They are set to be provided centrally. 

“What we do is serve agencies by taking from them, with their concurrence, the common tasks that everybody does, allowing them to concentrate instead on the aspects of their work that differentiates them from other agencies.”

Musing the future of resource pooling, Sheridan said there will be more shared services popping up in Canberra as agencies look to create efficiencies, look to combine common activities and achieve budget outcomes.