The government has outsourced the development of 44 ICT systems to the private sector for the next five years, through contracts the Malta Information Technology Agency has signed with five local companies.

The contracts signed with 2i, Alert Communications, iLab Malta, Loqus Public Sector and Seasus are worth a total of €2.5 million over the 5-year period.

MITA executive chairman Tony Sultana explained that the contracts consist of software development and operational services on applications which are managed by the agency.

The 44 systems that are being outsourced cover a wide spectrum of areas including statistics, government administration, health, social services, taxation and funding.

Earlier this year, MITA had issued a public call for companies to join an outsourcing framework for various services, and a total of ten suppliers are now participating in this framework.

Subsequently, the agency issued three tenders divided into different lots which were won by the five companies which signed a contract today.

Mr Sultana explained that this outsourcing will enable the agency to dedicate more time and resources on other programmes and initiatives.

Parliamentary Secretary José Herrera said that the agreements were proof of the government's commitment to the private sector and its faith in local companies, pointing out that the systems that have been outsourced included a number of critical ones.

He observed that while Malta's e-government system was rated as one of the EU's best, its take-up was one of the lowest in the EU, and expressed his hope that the agreements would help address this.