Queensland Government drops CIO

The Queensland Government has removed Peter Grant as the state’s Chief Information Officer, asking him to instead focus on one of several projects aimed at reducing technology spend across Queensland Government agencies.

Former QGCIO Peter Grant.

Andrew Garner, Director-General of Queensland’s Department of Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts (DSITIA) informed QGCIO (Queensland Government CIO) department staff in person that he will relieve Grant of the role, effective immediately.

The Director-General told staff he will be 'acting CIO' while the Government “reviews and assesses the role of the QGCIO” and attempts to remove legacy IT within Government agencies.

No guarantees were made that the office of the CIO will have a future under the Government’s new strategy.  

A new CIO would only be recruited "upon confirmation of the future role of the QGCIO," he told staff.

Garner has previously advised the Queensland Government on several key projects, none of them in the area of information technology. His last role was as lead partner to the Queensland Government for advisory firm Ernst and Young.

Grant's legacy

Grant has held the role of Queensland Government CIO since November 2011. He held the same role for three years between 2005 and 2008 before taking a State Director role with Microsoft, with whom the State was negotiating a large software licensing deal.

Grant spent much of his most recent stint as QGCIO developing a new approach to shared services within the Government that would bring transparency to agency IT spending.

He also commissioned an independent audit into the state of Queensland Government's IT, which concluded that the Queensland Government would need to spend over $5 billion to bring systems up to date.

The audit was never released to the public by former IT minister Ros Bates, who resigned in February, nor by current minister Ian Walker.

Ultimately the incoming Queensland Government opted not to spend any further funds re-shaping shared services or improving internal systems.

The Government intends to scrap internal shared service provider CITEC and rely in future on purchasing IT services from the private sector.

Director-General Garner has now asked Grant to accept a new role managing the delivery of a single network for the Queensland Government.

Grant will report directly to Garner.

The DSITIA and Minister Walker have both been contacted for comment. Stay tuned for more...