CIMU saga ends this week

For the Central Information Management Unit (CIMU) it is truly the end of the line. And for the 24 staff members, some of them highly qualified, who up to the beginning of this month had been caught up with the 'integration' of this branch of the public service with the Malta Information Technology and Training Services (MITTS), a dark chapter is being closed.

The decision to allocate CIMU's strategy role to the Ministry for Industry, Investment and Information Technology (MIIIT), and to return CIMU's regulatory role to MITTS was first mooted at the end of March.

According to a Department of Information statement, dated September 9, issued only in Maltese on September 13, Government first made an announcement on this integration last June as part of its "reform of its information and communications technology (ICT) in the public sector". Effectively, CIMU was being wiped out, with effect from this week, when on Friday it will 'shut down' for the last time.

Yet while no one questioned this decision at a policy level - it made no sense to have two government agencies that had similar roles, once MITTS no longer had a commercial role - the way this was communicated to the staff and the sensitivity with which the matter has been handled leaves much to be desired.

For most members of staff were informed of where they were going to be deployed only a fortnight ago after weeks of uncertainty and, in some cases, a long time after they had handed over and briefed those who were taking over their tasks.

No fewer than 12 government departments/entities will be receiving the 23 CIMU staff members who opted to stay to the end. Two resigned earlier on and a third is to pursue Ph.D. studies. Some will continue doing the work they did at CIMU in their new office, like those at the DOI, working on the Government Intranet and portal, and those working on information security and compliance management at MITTS. Others will be taking on new roles.

The DOI statement said that, following Government's decision not to employ persons in the ICT sector for the past six months, "these workers could be redeployed in an effective way" with an annual saving of Lm300,000.

The search for postings for these employees was also quite extensive - they could have been assigned a place overnight, and all knew they would not be made redundant.

CIMU was set up in February, 1999, with the former principal permanent secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister, Joseph R. Grima, as its managing director. Its brief history can be divided into four phases:

Phase 1 (up to August, 2000) saw the creation of Malta's national cyberlaws, the data protection legislation, the computer misuse provisions in the Criminal Code, the regulations on e-commerce and the strategy on e-government;

Phase 2 (up to February, 2002) saw the implementation of the e-government framework, the setting of standards and policies relating to information management, and the corporate implementation of the gov.mt domain, e-mail and Internet sites;

Phase 3 (up to February, 2004) saw the creation of the ICT governance framework. CIMU's regulatory role was further developed, and policy standards and directives were adopted. The Government portal was relaunched.

Due to EU membership, Cimu adopted an information security function, with the adoption of secure information transfer with the EU Council and the IDA (Interchange of Data between Administrations) programme adoption.

An ongoing programme has been the localisation of computer programmes and hardware for use with the Maltese language.

Phase 4 (since February, 2004) saw the implementation of the Microsoft Enterprise Agreement in the Public Service, the implementation of one final EU directive, various corporate programmes and, following EU membership last year, the regular attendance at 10 working group meetings related to ICT.

According to the DOI statement, the separation of the functions of MITTS and CIMU was no longer necessary in the context of ICT development in the Public Service, especially after Government decided that MITTS should no longer compete with the private sector in ICT.

MITTS is now the "organisation of excellence" in the ICT sector in the Public Service and its core business is to focus on the provision of a wide range of core infrastructural and technical services to Government and all public entities.

Because of this, the DOI statement said, the ICT governance function needed to the strengthened and this function (formerly performed by CIMU) is becoming an integral part of MITTS's services. This role includes several important strategic functions, including security, the drawing up of standards in all sectors of ICT in the Public Service and all the work related to compliance tied up to these standards.

With MITTS gradually ceasing to provide services that are now to come from the private sector, a number of employees are going to have their skills upgraded to be able to take on more specialised responsibilities, including the functions MITTS is to assume after the integration.

Meanwhile, things lie in boxes, the remaining staff count the hours and, come next Friday, CIMU will close its doors in Blata l-Bajda for the last time.

Government departments/entities receiving CIMU staff

3 Office of the Prime Minister
3 MITTS
3 Enemalta
2 left before they could be assigned
2 Malta Council for Science and Technology
2 National Euro Changeover Committee Unit
2 Mater Dei Hospital

2 Ministry of Industry, Investment and Information Technology
2 Department of Information
1 Water Services Corporation
1 Management and Personnel Office
1 Management Efficiency Unit
1 Ministry of Health
1 Resigned to pursue Ph.D. studies