NITDA says the aim is to ensure effective and efficient delivery of IT products and services for public institutions’ consumption
IT News Nigeria:
The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has organized a one-day workshop on Guidelines for the Introduction of Service Level Agreement (SLA) into Government Information Technology Contracts, according to a release today.
Director-General, Kashifu Inuwa was quoted as saying that NITDA intended to familiarize the participants with the guidelines to improve further compliance to better service delivery in the IT sector.
NITDA said the engagement was to further develop the culture of compliance to SLAs in government IT contracts. It drew participants from Lawyers and Information and Communication Technology professionals in the Federal Government Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs).
He said, “We are here to understand and agree on how to draft standard SLAs to ensure the provision of adequate warranty, after-sales service agreement on our IT products and services, and adequate provisions for downtime and after-sales support.”
DG who was represented by Acting Director, Corporate Planning and Strategy, Dr Aristotle Onumo, noted that developing a guideline for introducing SLA into Government Information Contracts has become imperative because of “the significant role IT has played in this economy in recent years.”
While citing the pivotal roles the sector played in lifting the Nigerian economy out of recession with the recording the highest growth rate in the 4th quarter of 2020, Inuwa opined that “there is a need to protect consumers in the sector.”
The Director-General further admitted that the workshop would practically elaborate on drafting SLAs in government contracts for IT products and services. “This we believe will help achieve our goals of developing the culture of use and compliance to SLA in government IT contracts.”
It might interest you to know that Guidelines for the Introduction of Service Level Agreement into Government Information Technology Contracts are issued in consonance with Section 6a, 17, 18(4) and 32 of the NITDA Act 2007, and when breached, it is regarded as a breach of the Act.
