Sixtieth session
Agenda item 124
Programme budget for the biennium 2006-2007



		Information and communication technology security, business continuity and disaster recovery


		Thirty-fourth report of the Advisory Committee on 
Administrative and Budgetary Questions


1.	The Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions has considered the note by the Secretariat on information and communication technology security, business continuity and disaster recovery (A/60/677).
2.	The note was submitted pursuant to General Assembly resolution 59/276 of 
23 December 2004 (sect. XI, para. 47), in which the Secretary-General was requested to submit to the Assembly at its sixtieth session the results of a technical study on information and communication technology security, business continuity and disaster recovery, with detailed costing and a timetable.
3.	Upon enquiry, the Secretariat informed the Committee that:
	(a)	A business assessment survey of all duty stations had been completed, confirming the original estimate that total requirements for a global business continuity and disaster capability would be in the range of $30-$35 million (see also A/60/677, para. 1 and A/59/365/Add.1 and Corr.1);
	(b)	The Secretariat had undertaken its own analysis of underlying hardware and software, but lacked expertise regarding commercial best practices;
	(c)	The standards for business continuity had significant design and cost implications. Further study was required to define the different options and the related costs, hence the request for an extension to the sixty-first session;
	(d)	The resource requirement of $250,000 under budget section 28D, Office of Central Support Services, will, where necessary, provide for independent technical advisers with expert knowledge of practices regarding data transfer and the consolidation of data centres in the information technology industry.
4.	The Advisory Committee trusts that future information technology-related reports will be mindful of Organization-wide efforts to present information, regardless of the subject matter, in a clear, concise and reader-friendly manner.
5.	The Advisory Committee was informed that there was close collaboration with the Department of Peacekeeping Operations and with New York-based agencies, as well as with the International Court of Justice. The Committee urges the Secretariat to actively seek out further lessons learned from elsewhere, both inside and outside the United Nations system, such as the United Nations Development Programme, the World Food Programme and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (which has conducted a study in this area).
6.	The Advisory Committee notes that the resource requirements in connection with the study, in the amount of $250,000, will be accommodated from within the overall resources approved for the biennium 2006-2007 under section 28D, Office of Central Support Services, and reported as necessary in the context of the performance report for the biennium (A/60/677, para. 4). The Committee expects that a comprehensive report will be submitted no later than September 2007, taking into account the capital master plan.













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 United Nations
A/60/7/Add.33
 
 General Assembly
Distr.: General
27 February 2006

Original: English



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 A/60/7/Add.33


A/60/7/Add.33