DIA looks for cross government CMS and website provider

Government hopes to curb $40m a year CMS costs with shared system

In the latest of a string of IT cost cutting and efficiency measures, the Department of Internal Affairs has announced it will lead the implementation of a shared content management and hosting service for government websites, services it says currently cost the government $40 million per year.

The Common Web Services Platform (CWSP) initiative will use a content management system standardised across several government agencies to reduce cost and complexity. It was approved by the government ICT council in late 2011.

The DIA says government websites are usually developed as one off projects, which creates unnecessary design and development costs. This method has resulted in over 50 distinct content management systems.

The $40 million a year figure is a conservative estimate, it adds.

This initiative will only cover basic information display websites which do not require large levels of integration with government databases.

Although it is leading the procurement, the DIA says IRD, Ministry of Education, and The Treasury are among 10 departments actively seeking or likely to use the CWSP in the near future.

Last October government announced Datacom and Revera as the winners of its infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) panel. The DIA says it prefers systems built on IaaS, or with the capablity to move to the cloud in the future.

It goes on to say at least one department requires a hybrid cloud system for the handling of sensitive documents.

An RFP document has been sent out to prospective technology partners to provide web development, design, and hosting services.