CIO of the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, Bob Correll, has left the agency for retirement and is set to be replaced early next month.
Staff within DIAC confirmed to CIOCorrell had left the organisation with deputy secretary, Jackie Wilson, assuming the position of acting CIO.
At DIAC, Correll led the 'Systems for People' project, which began in 2006, and aimed to replace the agency's legacy systems with 12 role-based portals. His tenure there began in 2005.
Correll, who spoke at the 2010 CIO Summit in Sydney, said at the time that Systems for People was the "first wave" of a transformational change within the department and another five-year change process would begin when the last portal had been implemented.
In an interview with CIO in June 2010, Correll talked up the virtues of Cloud computing, saying it could be the next step in DIAC's electronic visa system.
Correll said issues around Cloud security and privacy needed to be resolved before it would be adopted on a large scale.
In 2006 IBM was awarded a $250 million contract for a systems overhaul at DIAC as part of the $500 million Systems for People project.
Correll's tenure has not been without controversy, however. A message to CIO by somebody requesting anonymity, suggested his retirement was not voluntary.
"SfP [Systems for People] is a train wreck and the government ought to explain to taxpayers where the $500 million has gone [because] all that money has not delivered the promised change," the message read.
"End users are back to using the legacy visa processing system as the Generic Visa Portal has proved to be a dud after its last IBM delivered release on April 4, 2011."
CIO has requested a response from DIAC about the claims.
Sources familiar with DIAC's succession plan told CIOCorrell will be replaced by Tony Kwan, CIO at the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.
Kwan's DIAC appointment will begin on May 11.
Kwan was formerly CIO at the old federal Department of Education Science and Training (DEST).
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