TAFE NSW, NESA land tech funding in state budget

TAFE NSW and the NSW Education Standards Authority join NSW Police as big winners of technology-related funding in this year’s state budget.

The state government unveiled a $342.7 million “essential capital” package for TAFE NSW, which it said provides “ongoing funding certainty” for several programs of work.

One of these programs is the TAFE digital access foundation, an existing program that has so far focused on digital upgrades in geographical areas of “digital disadvantage”.

The program, according to questions on notice [pdf] from last year, covered wi-fi services and refreshed devices, and it appears this can now continue on a broader basis.

“This funding will provide reliable internet, wi-fi connectivity and end-user digital and collaboration devices to meet essential digital access requirements for student learning and business operations across TAFE NSW campuses,” the government said in budget papers. [pdf]

The NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) is also a sizable winner, with $43 million allocated to its ‘technology reform program’.

Again, this does not appear to be a new program of work - NESA job advertisements from the start of this year reference it as “an intricate and business-driven ICT transformation initiative”.

However, the $43 million provided over the next four years is a significant chunk of its total cost, estimated at $59.1 million.

“NESA has initiated a significant technology transformation program to embark upon a modernisation agenda over six years,” the budget papers state.

“The program seeks to modernise, elevate and transform current technology platforms, building better resilience and responsiveness and improving user experience. 

“The investment is being used to gradually upgrade core technology systems, uplift cyber security capabilities and reduce risk.”

Meanwhile, the budget documents paint a clearer picture of NSW Police’s large $126 million IT and cyber security investment, which was announced last week.

The major piece of clarity to emerge is that NSW Police will undergo an SAP upgrade, valued at $41.1 million.

“The upgrade will replace the NSW Police Force’s end-of-life enterprise resource planning, human capital management, and workforce rostering systems to modern, cloud-based solutions,” the budget papers state.

Overall, the number of new technology-related projects to receive funding is relatively modest.

Major existing projects - such as the single digital patient record in health, and the critical communications enhancement program to consolidate government-owned radio networks - received funding certainty for the next four years, ensuring they will continue.

The list of new technology-related funding outlined in the budget papers includes:

• $342.7m - TAFE NSW Essential Capital, including wi-fi, internet and device refreshes.
• $83.9m - NSW Justice Program Stage 1 – Funds “new digital infrastructure to support remote hearings and therapeutic spaces for witnesses, victims and children”, and the addition of “10 new virtually-enabled court suites for centralised bail hearings” among other projects.
• $50m - Critical network upgrades to NSW Police Force (of a total cost of $60m)
• $43m - NSW Education Standards Authority’s (NESA) technology reform and modernisation (total project cost estimated at $59.1m)
• $41.1m - SAP Upgrade at NSW Police Force
• $39.1m - Revenue NSW tax system enhancements “to increase tax compliance, enhancing fairness and integrity in the state’s tax system”
• $30m - Integrated wayfinding and signage transport solution for Western Sydney Airport Precinct: “This will provide improved connectivity for passengers and customers through integration of statewide customer information and signage.”
• $28m - For Revenue NSW IT enhancements to its fines and debt portal
• $27.3m - to strengthen the resilience of the Public Safety Network (PSN).
• $15.4m - to “strengthen the NSW government's identity proofing and credential issuing processes through building an internationally interoperable NSW Digital ID and Wallet.”
• $14.6 million for biodiversity offset scheme ICT systems. 
• $13.6m - to enhance cyber security threat detection and response at NSW Police Force 
• $11.5m - for the ‘Shared Services GovConnect Onboarding program’, described as “consolidating multiple shared services Hubs within a single ERP platform and service model to support more than 100-plus agencies across eight NSW government departments servicing more than 81,000 staff.”
• $9.5m - Revenue NSW IT enhancements around unclaimed money data and payments.