Vic agencies frustrated by intermittent internet connections

Customer agencies of soon-to-be-dismantled shared services body CenITex have reported continued problems with internet access, affecting various agencies across the space of a fortnight.

The connectivity flaws were first reported to be frustrating just two of the departments serviced by CenITex.

A fortnight ago, a spokesman for the Technology Minister Gordon Rich-Phillips confirmed the problems to iTnews.

“CenITex is currently investigating instances of intermittent, slow internet connectivity within some sections of the Department of Transport, Planning and Local Infrastructure and the Department of Environment and Primary Industries,” he said.

“The issue concerns internet access for some staff within these departments.”

In the weeks since, iTnews has learned that the connectivity issues have extended to another CenITex customer, the Department of State Development, Business and Infrastructure, as well.

Users have complained to iTnews that CenITex has been sluggish in acknowledging the issue and providing advice to agency staff.

However the Minister's office has claimed that the latest outages are unrelated to last week's incident.

"The DTPLI/DEPI slow connectivity issue has been resolved. DSDBI experienced a period of slow internet connectivity on Monday 2 July. This was unrelated to the DTPLI/DEPI incident and has also been resolved," said a spokesman.

The shared services body has been plagued by underperformance, resourcing and even corruption issues for a number of years.

The days of CenITex as Victorian Government staff know it today, however, are likely to be numbered, as the state embarks on a major project to outsource the hands on service delivery functions currently performed by the agency.

The state has named the bidders in the running to take over the services, and expects to finalise the first contracts as soon as October this year.