ATO shuffles CTO position

After four years maintaining its chief technology officer role as a contractor, the Australian Taxation Office has decided to make the position permanent.

Since 2004, the ATO's chief technology officer Todd Heather has remained a contractor. But according to a vacancy posted on its website , the ATO intends to make the role permanent, meaning it will in the future come under the public sector's SES Band 2, which attracts a salary between $146,680 and $174,690.

The CTO plays a critical role within the ATO's technology team, headed up by chief information officer Bill Gibson. According to the job description, the CTO leads the agency's ICT strategy, planning, policy and architecture, and is at the forefront of all of its technology programs, including the realignment of the ATO's $1 billion worth of IT outsourcing contracts.

The ATO recently knocked Telstra and CSC out of contention for its managed network services contract, worth up to $385 million over seven years.

The ATO is yet to narrow the shortlist of contenders for its end-user and centralised computing contracts, which includes IT outsourcing heavyweights, CSC, Telstra-owned KAZ Group, IBM, Lockheed Martin Australia, Unisys and the agency-wide incumbent EDS.