Shared Services Canada – a new government agency falling under the mandate of Public Works – will meet with vendors “in the coming months” to discuss the government’s strategy, said Corinne Charette, the federal government’s chief information officer.
Officials will discuss cloud computing, technological standards and architecture, among other issues, she added in a keynote address Tuesday at the Government Technology Exhibition and Conference. GTEC is a multiday annual conference that attracts some of the country’s top technology firms, and their public-sector clients.
Calling the current IT portfolio “too customized to specific department needs and too expensive,” Ms. Charette said it would be a poor investment to merely renew the current platform, and that “ruthless” integration will be needed going forward.
The modernization of the government’s portfolio will be spread-headed by Shared Services Canada, a newly minted government department that will reduce the number of data centres from 300 to fewer than 20, consolidate 100 email systems into a single platform, and streamline more than 300 in-house networks.
Bringing all government departments under one central platform is expected to save between $100 million and $200 million.
Ms. Charette said Shared Services will determine how many data centre will be needed, where they will be located, and how fast can implementation of the modernization strategy be done within departments.
Administrative applications will also be standardized where possible. For example, each department maintains its own web publishing management system and support staff, she said. By using a common platform, she said, all departments could be maintained on one system at a lower cost.
