South Aust. Shared Services programme to cost twice as originally planned

A Shared Services programme to cut South Australian bureaucracy will cost twice its original cost.

The programme has been labelled an ‘unmitigated disaster’ by the South Australian State Opposition.

Shared Services director Damian Bourke has told a parliamentary committee that the cost of implementing the reform programme would total about $128 million, up from the initial estimate of $60 million.

Bourke said the original scope of the programme had changed, and Shared Services was estimated to save $338 million by 2014-15.

He said rent of Wakefield House for Shared Services accounted for an extra $18 million, along with $30 million for an e-procurement platform. A further $10 million had been allocated for ICT reforms.

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