The Federal Government's 2010 State of Service Report, released yesterday, found ICT continues to be the government's biggest skills headache.
In spite of the government's efforts over the last two years to redress the problem, the ICT skills gap remains chronic. The Report found ICT skills shortages continue to have a moderate to severe impact, hampering the capability of almost 70% of government agencies in doing their job. It is highly likely ICT will continue to be a problem for at least another three years.
As the ICT industry emerges from the impact of the Global Financial Crisis, competition for in-demand skills will continue to grow. Government is likely to find the going tough, in its efforts to tempt highly paid contractors to become permanent staff. The Report found, contractors accounted for 19% of the government's ICT workforce in 2009-10. This means government ICT budgets continue to be tightly linked to movements in contractor pay rates.
Perhaps it is now time to move away from Gerson's recommendation to cut contractor numbers by 50%. In the light of consistent evidence, it might be better to focus on attracting skills from all sources, to secure the delivery of government services. While internal staff can often be a more cost effective in particular circumstances, this is an ICT investment decision based on local requirements. The bottom line is that ICT skills simply aren't available to meet identified requirements. Agencies need to have the flexibility to address that shortage, based on their own particular business requirements.
