The government and the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Enterprise have announced the setting up of an outsourcing framework that will see some of the current application maintenance, support and operations at the Malta Information Technology Agency (MITA) being outsourced to the private sector.
Speaking at the launch last week, Austin Gatt, Minister for Information, Transport and Communication said the outsourcing framework, developed in collaboration with the private industry, is a transparent and effective strategy to engage the ICT industry in providing services previously carried out by MITA. The government considers outsourcing as a means of nurturing and promoting the ICT sector as well as enabling the transition to new technologies while allowing MITA to focus on tighter programme and contractor management, hence realising over-all value for money for government.
The framework was developed over the past 12 months, during which a number of suppliers have been awarded contracts for software development and operational support.
He made reference to other MITA outsourcing projects, such as the desktop services to the public service and state schools which entailed the leasing and support of 20,000 PCs and laptops through the partnering with the private sector.
He referred to the EU2020 strategy put forward by the European Commission that re-affirms the importance of ICT for the creation of sustainable jobs and confirmed that in 2010 the ICT sector contributed a total gross value of 6.75 per cent to the local economy.
MITA chairman Claudio Grech said that in 2010 MITA contracted approximately €5m in general IT procurement from the private sector, whilst in 2011 procurement is expected to increase to over €20m, including investment in an e-learning platform and other key business solutions such as finance.
He explained that this outsourcing initiative is a key tenet in the National ICT Strategy which had clearly set out the vision of deeper engagement of the private sector for the transformation of public service delivery through technology.
“With this shift in MITA’s approach, the agency will be able to draw upon the excellent competencies which today exist in the ICT private sector, hence creating further space for MITA to drive the overall programme into a higher gear of implementation. Our experiences in business knowledge and systems development will be channelled to sourcing and managing transformational ICT programmes in an intelligent and cost effective manner,” added Mr Grech.
The new outsourcing process started in March of last year when a tender was issued to identify providers willing and capable of providing software application related services. A total of twelve suppliers are now participating in this outsourcing framework and four of these have already been given a number of solutions to maintain.
Mr Grech said that the outsourcing of the first batch of applications is proceeding as planned and that substantial progress has been achieved. A second batch of applications has already been identified and preparatory work is underway to issue requests for quotations to the suppliers. This second wave will consist of applications that are much larger in terms of their user base and complexity. The first application forming part of the second batch will be the vehicle registration system and this will be issued in the coming days.
Following the feedback received from the first process, MITA has taken a number of measures to improve its procurement method for this framework. The upcoming request for quotations will include an architectural document to provide the necessary technical details and other high level business requirements on future application enhancements as well as a technology roadmap.
MITA will also be holding technical workshops to allow potential bidders to acquire further information directly from the project teams currently responsible for the applications.
Keith Fearne, chairman of the information technology business section at the Chamber of Commerce said that through the outsourcing of critical government applications, MITA was demonstrating trust in its partners. He encouraged the local ICT industry to enhance their standards by adopting and promoting international methodologies and best practices.
“I believe that the outcome of this outsourcing programme will prove to be beneficial to our members both financially and also in terms of human capital development,” added Mr Fearne.