Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water to set up own IT

The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) is set to move off a shared services IT arrangement over the next two years and stand up its own technology environment.

The call was made in June but was only disclosed in a tender document overnight.

At present, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) provides “core ICT services” to DCCEEW and its 4400 staff and contractors.

“In June 2023, DCCEEW informed [DAFF] that [it] will seek to establish its own ICT arrangements, transitioning away from the current shared services arrangement with [DAFF] over the next two years,” according to the tender document.

“Detailed planning for the eventual transition is yet to be undertaken and will occur between [DAFF] and DCCEEW stakeholders.”

DCCEEW was only set up in mid-2022 and took over climate and energy functions that previously sat with the Department of Industry.

The transition away from the shared services arrangement coincides with a large-scale review of how DAFF sources and provides ICT services generally - to its own internal functions and teams, and/or as shared services.

The review kicked off late last year with an industry briefing, and the cache of tender documents released this week show that DAFF has refined how it intends to proceed.

Within DAFF, ICT and digital services come under a unit called the Digital Services Division (DSD); it has “custodianship of the digital and technology environment” and effectively provides technology services that underpin what other teams and functions within the department build.

It is hoping to assemble a “service catalogue” and will sign up service providers in six areas, including enterprise service management, end user productivity, hybrid compute and storage, managed network services, telecommunications and “staff augmentation”.

It will now test the market for the supply of end user productivity and service desk services only.

DAFF is offering an initial three-year term, with options to extend beyond that period, but the “whole-of-life cost” cannot exceed $100 million.

The new services would need to be in place by May 2024, according to the documents.