1.5 IT is a necessary tool of the Agency in controlling and monitoring radio usage. The Agency for example use large sophisticated databases and bespoke applications to allocate radio spectrum to types of user and to assign specific frequencies to individual customers within technical and geographical parameters. IT is also a key element in the Agency's research and development work aimed at extending the usable spectrum as new technologies develop, and making greater use of the existing spectrum. This involves the development of specialised computer modelling techniques. The issue of licences to transmit signals on specific frequencies, the collection of licence fees and monitoring to detect unauthorised use is all dependent upon specialised IT systems.
1.6 By 1995 the Agency had identified the need to make immediate and substantial investment in IT systems. This was driven by inadequacies in existing systems that, if not remedied, could adversely affect the Agency's ability to meet satisfactorily the expectations of users of the radio spectrum given forecasts of continued growth in demand for access to this resource.
1.7 For many years the Agency had found it difficult to recruit and retain sufficient IT staff of suitable quality. The Agency did not consider it feasible to increase the number of in-house staff to the level necessary to meet the expected demand for services.
1.8 In 1996 the Agency estimated that there was a need for over 90 staff to support IT activities across the Agency and staffing would need to continue at this level until at least 2001. Based on employment patterns it was assumed that this total would be made up of 48 in-house staff and 44 contractors. The average cost per contractor was more than three times that of in-house IT employees. The Agency, however, recognised that the benefits of ending the reliance on contractors went beyond the achievement of financial savings. The considerable time spent by the Agency's managers to recruit, train and manage contractors could be cut so freeing up resources for activities directly related to the business of managing the radio spectrum.