Vol. 574 No. 1
213 Mr. McGuinness asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the number of ICT projects or initiatives being undertaken by his Department; the cost of each project; if they are being or have been delivered within budget and on time; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26068/03]
My Department has invested significantly in IT over the past number of years to provide systems to underpin its operations and to provide enhanced customer service. At any time there is a large programme of IT initiatives being progressed. Much of this work involves essential changes and enhancements to the existing range of systems that support the operations of the Department, and is carried out by the in-house IT team.
Large new developments in this programme are outsourced, in line with the Department's IT strategy. Procurement for these is done on the basis of fixed price contracts. These projects are managed by project boards, who control the project and authorise any contract changes, where business requirements change during the implementation of the project or where it is decided to have the contractor carry out additional related work. Any such changes are also done within procurement guidelines.
Outsourced projects which are ongoing or were completed during 2003 include a project to provide on-line access for farmers to their area aid applications and their maps, an SAP based accounts project to underpin purchasing, accounts receivable, material management and fixed assets management, a project to build a new system for intervention based on SAP, and the construction of a new animal health computer system to support disease eradication.
I will extract and provide directly to the Deputy the details he has requested in regard to all such projects that are ongoing or have been completed during the year.
