Mahesh Sharma | July 29, 2008
THE Australian Federal Police has started a round of voluntary redundancies after taking the axe to its technology contractors earlier this year.
IT project work at the Australian Federal Police could be sent offshore
The work could be sent offshore.
A spokesman confirmed the department launched an organisation-wide voluntary redundancy in June. While the number of staff affected was not disclosed, some will be IT staff.
"There is a potential minimal impact for IT. Staffing levels remain sufficient for the AFP's IT requirements."
The move comes as the AFP confirmed it culled contractors in February because of project delays and a change in focus of its hiring policies. It did not renew the services of 61 IT contractors and 10 more accepted voluntary redundancy.
"It is taking longer than expected to move into the development phase of some major IT projects and this, coupled with some resourcing adjustments, has required a change in focus and priority," a spokesman said. "The AFP regrets the necessity of this action."
The spokesman said the decision did not affect any of the permanent IT workforce, and it continued to employ 339 IT staff, comprising 222 permanent employees and 117 contractors.
The spokesman admitted the contract work could be sent offshore, provided it met certain security requirements.
"Development work could be allocated to any successful tenderer. AFP systems or migration of legacy data and any activity involving access to sensitive data is unlikely to be outsourced. "There is no intention to host AFP systems or the data they contain offshore."
The AFP denied there had been a slowdown or freeze in IT hiring and said it had not withdrawn 120 IT jobs that were being advertised.
"The AFP's IT recruitment reflects fluctuating organisational needs. The AFP was building, and continues to build, areas of competence in information services. The AFP uses contractors to cover work-flow peaks as part of its project governance approach and responsibility to key stakeholders."
The staff reduction comes as the AFP is undertaking several key IT projects, including an overhaul of its Police Realtime Online Management Information System (PROMIS) with a system codenamed Project Spectrum.