Deloitte’s price tag to develop its prototype for a revamped, social network-inspired myGov update into a working beta product has been doubled. The consulting giant will now receive nearly $20 million over seven months from the federal government for the project.
Deloitte Consulting was awarded the contract with the Digital Transformation Agency (DTA), originally worth $9,487,160, to build “GovDXP Horizon 1” in mid-March, running until mid-September.
But the contract was amended on Monday to double the amount Deloitte will be paid. The company will now receive $19,482,168 over the next seven months to build a beta model of a new government digital “experience” platform to run alongside myGov.
The federal government has already paid Deloitte nearly $1 million for a prototype of the new platform as part of a “90-day sprint” earlier this year.
A spokesperson for the DTA would not say why the contract’s value had been doubled.
“The DTA is continuing work to improve digital experiences for Australians, in accordance with the government requirements and relevant procurement processes,” the spokesperson told InnovationAus.
While Deloitte is working on the beta phase of GovDXP, its consulting rival McKinsey is being paid nearly $1 million to develop a business case for the new platform over the next three months as part of a separate contract.
Law firm Maddocks will also receive $100,000 to provide legal advice for the GovDXP project.
GovDXP will initially run alongside myGov with an aim to provide digital government services with a similar user experience to private companies such as Facebook. The project is ‘led’ by the Digital Transformation Agency, which is running it across a series of stages, or “horizons”.
Horizon 0 has already been completed and saw some of the design elements from Deloitte’s prototype incorporated in the australian.gov.au COVID-19 homepage.
Horizon 1, which Deloitte will be paid $20 million to work on, will see the creation of a platform offering personalised content, such as a web-based myGov inbox, opt-in notifications and login access to the myGov platform.
“Horizon 1 is a dynamic, fast-moving and agile project so we do not know exactly what the end product looks like,” the DTA said in a recent industry briefing.
The final stage of the project will allow users to browse information and manage government services via the one platform, which will include a dashboard, profile, inbox and forms.
“The platform will collect services, apps and other customer experience capabilities to give users everything they need. This will operate on a ‘Netflix’ model, providing users with what they need to do next based on their previous interactions with government services – similar to Netflix’s ‘recommended to you’,” the DTA said.
Work on that phase of the project has been slated to kick off in July, with the Digital Marketplace offering receiving 14 applications.
The myGov update is a key pillar of the government’s Services Australia strategy, with an aim to provide smoother, more cohesive user experience for Australians looking to access digital government services.
“This myGov update will offer government information and services across portfolios and jurisdictions and will integrate these around the events people experience in their life, such as having a baby or experiencing a natural disaster,” the DTA said in a blog post.
“It will improve the way people and businesses interact with government information and services. Enhancements to myGov will enable a more effective model for government to deliver the information and services people and businesses need, in a way that works for them.”
Do you know more? Contact James Riley via Email.
Deloitte and the other big 4 have just about become as wasteful an inefficient as Government itself. I guess that’s what happens when Government outsources almost everything it does to them. The cancer of bureaucracy spreads.