A Council de-merger manager has claimed a $4 million saving with some good choices in IT contracts.

Peter Franks is the transfer manager for the formation of the new Noosa council, when it splits from the Sunshine Coast council in January 2014. Franks says information technology is the single biggest expense in creating the new council, but with some tricky contractual manoeuvring he has drastically under-cut estimates.

The Queensland Treasury Corporation (QTC) had estimated it would cost more than $5 million to set up a new computer system, but Mr Franks has smashed that guess by signing contracts with three providers to set up the system for a total of just over $1 million.

With striking modesty for a man who had just saved millions of taxpayer dollars, Mr Franks said: “Capital expenditure the QTC estimated was $5.2 million...I've brought in a deal for $1.2 million, so effectively a $4 million saving and then the QTC estimated a $3.8 million annual operating expenditure. My estimate is $2.2 million - a $1.5 million saving.”