Thursday, June 25, 2009

Australian Government Green ICT Quick Wins

Greetings from the AIIA "Canberra: The Standing Agenda" in Canberra. Kayelle Wiltshire from AGIMO is talking about 'Green ICT Quick Wins'. She pointed out that the ANAO estimate of 10% of energy use in agencies is probably low. The quick wins are easy steps to reduce energy use, such as shutting down desktop computers overnight (As at March 2009, only 48% of agencies do). In the longer term agencies can look at thin clients and virtualisation (as ABS has done). Agencies get to keep the money saved.

Later Mr Al Blake, CIO of the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (DEWHA) is talking on the whole of Government ICT sustainability plan in response to the Gershon recommendations. DEWHA are to produce whole of government ICT plan by December 2009 and major agencies are required to each produce their own ICT Energy Management Plan by March 2010. DEWHA have already issued a Request for Tender for Provision of Desktop, LAN, Helpdesk and Midrange Services.

A problem with both the 'Green ICT Quick Wins' and the Whole of Government ICT plan is that there appear to be no details published. As a result it will be difficult for government agencies and their commercial suppliers to assist with the effort. AGIMO and DEWHA should publish the planning documents and drafts for the projects on the web, so that there can be informed input. In this way it will not be necessary to wait until the plans are completed before work on their implementation. It will be possible to gain wide input from government staff and industry informally. A more formal parallel process can make use of AGIMO's GovDex online system, without the need for any committee meetings. AGIMO could thereby demonstrate how to move the process of government to 21st century web 2.0 organisational techniques.

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