Victorian Ombudsman George Brouwer has slammed the state of Victorian ICT projects, lamenting the lost opportunities that the wasted funds represented.

 

“They represent many foregone hospital beds, trains, teachers, police and child protection workers,” Mr Brouwer said in his report.

 

Mr Brouwer reported that despite constant evidence that suggested the need for urgent reform and transparency in the State Government’s ICT spending, little was done to amend the problems.

 

“Despite these reports, we see little sign of lessons learnt in the public sector. The evidence to date is that the public sector is not managing ICT-enabled projects effectively,” Mr Brouwer said.

 

The investigation covered 10 separate Victorian Government ICT projects, finding that agencies are making similar mistakes around planning, governance and execution of ICT projects.

 

“We recommend a strong and coherent framework for the development of future ICT-enabled projects. This report advises on how projects can be better managed in the future. Given the significant rate of change in ICT, it is also imperative that any management framework has sufficient flexibility to respond quickly and effectively to change,” Mr Brouwer concluded.

 

The full report can be found here