NSW People First review guidelines out

The New South Wales Government Chief Information Office has today released the terms of reference (PDF) for an audit of the People First IT program.

The audit — flagged yesterday — is to be performed by Ernst & Young and looks to hand down a report before the year is out.

The NSW Department of Services, Technology and Administration wants the review to validate the calculations, which laid out how much the government could save over the life of the program. It will map how much the program has saved the government over the last four years and extrapolate what future economic benefits the program holds for the future.

The audit will also determine the true cost of the program over the last four years and calculate a return on investment for the period up to 2009/2010.

The People First program was established in 2006 and sought to slash $565 million from the state's ICT activities through coordinated procurement and management of technology projects.