NSW government releases cloud computing policy

The New South Wales government has launched a cloud services policy designed to help agencies evaluate cloud computing when undertaking ICT procurements.

NSW Finance and Services Minister Andrew Constance said the policy will improve service delivery by allowing more flexible and reliable technology.

“It will also deliver costs savings by helping us get better value for money for these services,” he said in a statement.

According to policy documents, NSW government agencies will need to check if the solution is available through a cloud delivery model and requirements for data and information management are met.

Agencies can select infrastructure as a service (IaaS) if computing power, networking and storage is provided, platform as a service (PaaS) where applications can be developed and software as a service (SaaS) where full application functionality is delivered.

From mid-2013, data centre consolidation into two NSW government data centres will provide the opportunity for agencies to access ICT services from a range of providers, including data centre as a service. The two facilities will also host a private government cloud to provide ICT services in a secure environment.

Constance said the policy is complemented by a new ‘as-a-service’ module of the ProcureIT contracting framework. ProcureIT provides a suite of standard documents, terms and conditions for ICT contracting.

According to Constance, this will make procuring cloud-based services easier by cutting red tape for both business and government.

“We are not only making it easier to adopt cloud-based solutions. We are creating standard terms and conditions so that the procurement process is straight forward and provides certainty for buyers and sellers,” he said.

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