By John W. Verity

The idea of disparate government organizations sharing IT services — mainly as a way to improve delivery and control costs — is slowly but surely catching on among Australian agencies.

Victoria is the country’s smallest mainland state, yet also the one that is most densely populated. There, a new and closely watched sharing arrangement is under way, involving core government information and communications services. The program started last summer, when Victoria’s parliament created the Centre for IT Excellence, or CenITex. The group’s mission: centrally manage the data centers, IT applications, core networks, desktop computers, help desks, terminals and telephones relied on by some 60,000 employees at nearly a dozen state agencies.

“The idea of shared services has been kicking around [in Australia] for more than five years, but had not been particularly successful,” says Bruce Lawrence, an executive consultant at CenITex and Manager of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Infrastructure at Victoria’s Department of Human Services (DHS). “It should work this time, because CenITex has strong board governance, an initial focus on delivering infrastructure services, and a critical mass of services and users.”

CenITex’s founding coincided with a public discussion about how Australians should spur innovation. A government-funded report, released last year under the title, “Venturous Australia,” concluded that because the country has depended too heavily on sales of mineral resources, it risks severe competitive threats in the global economy. The report called for action on several fronts, including public education spending, research and development, and intellectual property laws.