Federal Government adopts Gershom Review
Posted By: Thomas Shaw, 2:59pm Tuesday 25 November 2008
It’s hard enough to find skilled candidates for IT roles in Canberra, but the Federal Governments adoption of the Gershom Review doesn’t make much sense. Canberra is a nice place. But... I couldn't live there permanently.
It's official: Govt backs Gershon "in full" - ZDNet Australia
http://www.6rec.com/vpzi
Government devastates contractors, vendors and recruiters with Gershon approval - iTWire
http://www.6rec.com/3nyo
"The IT contracting and recruitment industries, as well IT vendors, already reeling from the economic downturn, have been dealt a devastating body blow by the Federal Government's decision to implement in full the recommendations of the recent Gershon Review. Contractor numbers will shrink by half and Government ICT spending will be slashed by more than half a billion over the next three years."
The Government is trying hard to cut costs, but at the expense of the highly skilled and talented IT contractors.
"The review claimed that up to 20 per cent of staff in some agencies had been converted from permanent to contractors, which affected agencies' skill base but also posed a risk since contractors stood outside the standard performance management system. Gershon estimated that 23 per cent of the government's current ICT workforce was contractors."
IT Recruitment Agencies would have already started to consult with the Government and Contractors about the changes. This might actually be a windfall for those agencies who need the upfront cash $ from the conversion.
Smaller agencies that have a large contracting book sheet will be the hardest hit, and they will take a long time to recover from the contracting margin loss.
Peoplebank bought Ambit for $100 million, which derives 97% of its business from IT contracting with a strong focus on the Government sector