Defence names tax man as CIO

THE Department of Defence has poached Australian Taxation Office technology boss Greg Farr to serve as its new chief information officer.


Greg Farr's appointment as Defence CIO comes just days before he's scheduled to brief vendors on the ATO's $1 billion outsourcing program


The appointment casts a shadow over the ATO's looming $1 billion outsourcing program and comes just days before Mr Farr was scheduled to brief vendors on the initiative.

Defence named Mr Farr, the ATO's second commissioner and senior technology executive, as its new CIO in a statement late Friday.

Mr Farr will start work at the end of next month.

"We are delighted to welcome Mr Farr to the Defence organisation and look forward to working with him on what is an increasingly vital part of our activities, including in support of ADF operations," Secretary of Defence Nick Warner said.

Mr Farr's appointment follows a decision by Defence to reopen applications for the CIO job to public servants after it failed to attract enough interest from private sector technology bosses.

Coles CIO Peter Mahler and former Qantas and Telstra IT head Fiona Balfour are both understood to have been targeted by Defence but the organisation was expected to struggle to match private sector pay scales.

Peter Lambert has been serving as acting chief information officer at Defence.

An independent review carried out earlier this year had advised Defence to bring in an IT expert from the private sector.

While Mr Farr's appointment does not fulfil that recommendation it does embrace advice that the department draw upon external expertise to revitalise its troubled technology operations.

Mr Farr will step into an organisation battered by controversy and struggling to deliver major IT projects including a $100 million upgrade of its mission critical payroll and human resources platform.

The department has three core business system projects underway and Mr Farr will also have to grapple with myriad military systems.

Defence is one of the country's largest and most sophisticated users of information and communications technology and the role of leading its IT operations is considered one of the most challenging CIO jobs in Australia.

The department has also struggled to hold onto technology leaders and it has had two full-time and two acting CIOs aside from Mr Farr in the last four years.

The most recent full-time chief information officer, Air Vice-Marshall John Monaghan, resigned from the position to pursue a private sector career in March, precipitating a six-month search for a new permanent technology boss.

Mr Farr leaves the ATO as the organisation prepares to retender its decade-old infrastructure outsourcing agreement with EDS.

An ATO spokeswoman said that Mr Farr's appointment to Defence was not likely to impact the $1 billion outsourcing project, which kicks off at the end of October and will run until mid-2010.

Mr Farr has been central to determining the outsourcing strategy and has also overseen the agency's on-going, $724 million technology Change Program.

"Mr Farr has played a key role in leading the Change Program and leaves us well on the road to the successful roll-out of the remaining releases. In particular we have a high level of confidence for release 3.1 and 3.2, with a lot of the hard work behind us," the spokeswoman said.

"The talent of our people is being recognised increasingly by others in the public service and Greg’s appointment recognises the value others place in our capabilities."

ATO chief information officer Bill Gibson will continue to manage the tax office's technology sourcing strategy on a day-to-day basis and the agency has commissioned a recruitment firm to start the hunt for a new second commissioner.

"Our own people are being considered as well as others in the field to be provided to government for consideration," the spokeswoman said.