Swansea IT staff threaten strike action: IT staff at Swansea Council in England are to take industrial action later this month on account of the council's decision to outsource its IT functions. Ninety-seven percent of the IT staff who are members of the Unison union voted in favour of going on indefinite strike from 16 August, with all IT functions to be suspended apart from the child protection register. The union claims that the council has refused to fully consult staff over its plans to outsource work to an external supplier as part of an estimated STG100 million contract. The union says its members fear that the council wants IT staff to transfer to the new IT supplier on a permanent basis, raising concerns about job security and pension rights for employees. However, the council says that it has been in talks with staff about its plans from the start and claims that it has not yet made a decision over whether to transfer staff. The proposed IT contract would involve desktop, infrastructure and application support being outsourced to either Capgemini or ITNet; the winner of the contract is expected to be announced this autumn.
US reports e-government progress: The US has improved its performance with regard to e-government, a new report from the White House claims. In the report to federal employees, entitled "The Federal Government is Results-Oriented," the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said that federal agencies are using IT to improve their programmes and are no longer using technology for technology's sake. The study said that 70 percent of IT systems across agencies are now secure, compared with 26 percent three years ago. The OMB also highlighted the fact that 72 percent of agencies have mechanisms in place to evaluate their IT costs and performance, and it noted that around 50 percent of agencies meet at least 90 percent of their cost and schedule targets. The report also says that "the Federal Government has made great strides in expanding the availability and use of electronic services for citizens."
Dubai police to use Pockets for traffic management: Traffic police in the city of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates are to be issued with handheld computers to assist them in traffic management. Pocket PCs will enable traffic cops to instantly call up information about any vehicle from a central database, simply by keying in its registration number. Police will also be able to issue fines immediately and send a mobile phone message, a fax or an e-mail to the vehicle owner informing him or her of the details of the fine, dispensing with the need to maintain a manual traffic fine register. The devices also feature cameras and the ability to store photos of offending vehicles and traffic accidents. The new system will, in addition, provide access to pertinent statistical information: police can get daily data on the number of fatalities resulting from accidents, the number of registered cars, and the number of traffic fines that have been issued. The system is expected to be fully operational in Dubai within months, after which time it will be rolled out to other areas of the UAE.
Victoria to launch transport smartcards: The Victorian government in Australia has announced a call for tenders for a new smartcard ticketing system for public transport. Minister for Transport Peter Batchelor said the ticketless system would be rolled out across regional and metropolitan bus, train and tram networks by 2007. The minister explained that the smartcard is a durable plastic card that can be scanned from inside a wallet or handbag when users get on and off public transport. Regular users will be able to pre-load value onto their smartcard with a credit or debit card; disposable smartcards will also be available for purchase. Cards can be bought from train stations, certain retail agents, Melbourne airport, on-line and over the phone. Batchelor also said that the smartcard system would automatically calculate the lowest fares for users. Tenderers have eight weeks to prepare their submissions, with evaluations expected to be completed by early 2005. The new contract will be for a period of ten years. "We expect the new system will cost less to operate than the existing system (AUD55 million per year), but the final costs will be determined through a competitive tender process," Batchelor added.
Bahrain upgrades staff IT skills: The government of Bahrain has announced that staff from a number of its ministries are to be trained in e-government skills, with the support of Microsoft. The Gulf Daily News reports that under a partnership agreement signed by the government and Microsoft, Bahrain's Central Informatics Organisation is selecting employees from various ministries to partake in special IT training. Microsoft e-government strategy consultant Ghassan Mteirek said the re-training was necessary because the government's computer network was being upgraded for the Windows 2003 Technology Infrastructure Platform. A total of 99 employees have so far applied for a course that will provide an introduction to e-government infrastructure and collaboration. Further courses will be run on topics such as government portal development and the use of new e-mail systems.
Autor: Sylvia Leatham
Quelle: ElectricNews.Net, 11.08.2004
