The government has quietly handed Deloitte a further $1.2 million for work on the myGov beta to cover an additional two months’ work, with the consulting giant now having been paid more than $30 million on the beta this year.
Deloitte had been contracted by the Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) to help develop a new government digital experience platform, dubbed GovDXP, to initially run alongside the existing myGov platform and eventually replace it.
The consulting giant was originally signed on to the project since it developed build a prototype of the new platform in March for about $1 million. It then was awarded another contract from the DTA to develop a beta version of this platform, initially worth $9.5 million, with that phase dubbed “Horizon 1”.
This Horizon 1 contract, was to end in September, has since tripled in value through three amendments and is now worth $28.1 million.
The government is yet to enter into a deal with a “systems integrator with hosting and software partners” for Horizon 2 of the project, which will contain the bulk of the work.
The DTA’s contract with Deloitte came to an end on 30 September and has not been updated since.
With no provider signed on for the next stage of the program, it had been unclear whether the project had been stalled or delayed, or even whether work would continue at all on the myGov beta.
But InnovationAus can now reveal that the government quietly entered into a contract extension with Deloitte for its work on myGov worth $1.2 million running from late October to the end of the year. This contract was signed via Services Australia rather than the DTA, and was listed publicly as “information technology services”, rather than signifying that it was part of myGov.
This means Deloitte has now been paid more than $30 million this year for its work on the myGov update, which is still currently in beta, based on $9.5 million contract awarded via limited tender.
A spokesperson for Services Australia confirmed this contract relates to Deloitte’s Horizon 1 work, which had been managed previously by the DTA.
It’s not clear why the new Deloitte contract is signed with Services Australia rather than as an extension to the DTA contract, which has already been amended three times and tripled in value across six months.
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A Services Australia spokesperson said the DTA is still leading the myGov project.
“DTA remains the lead agency for the strategic direction and design of the myGov enhancement program. Services Australia supports the program through delivery and ongoing operations,” the spokesperson told InnovationAus.
Horizon 1 of the project involves the creation of a beta platform with personalised content, including a web-based myGov inbox, opt-in notifications and login access to myGov.
A beta version of this platform was recently launched, with users able to select to see the new platform when visiting myGov.
The contract for the Horizon 2 of the project has still not been signed but is expected to be concluded by the end of the year.
Horizon 2 will see a more fulsome development of the new platform, with users able to browse information and manage government services in the one spot, with a dashboard, profile, inbox and forms.
Despite plans for work on this stage to kick off midway through this year, the government is still yet to sign a contract for Horizon 2.
The DTA has said the new myGov will offer a user experience more in line with that offered by the likes of Facebook, and will include Netflix-like recommendations.
The DTA has previously said that the new version of myGov will be inspired by social media firms and other tech companies.
“This 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.
A number of other companies have also won contracts for work on GovDXP. Law firm King and Wood Mallesons is being paid $1.75 million to provide legal services for the project, along with the DTA’s digital identity scheme, until 30 June next year, whild Maddocks is being paid $100,000 for legal services until the end of the year.
Deloitte rival McKinsey was paid nearly $1 million to develop a business case for the new myGov, while Proximity Advisory Services won a $100,000 contract running until the end of the year to provide probity advice on the project.
Deloitte has recently won two other contracts with the DTA for work on its protected utility program. The consulting giant was paid nearly $100,000 for a “protected utility program – APS capability uplift discovery sprint”, running from 1 September to 30 November, and a further $80,000 for BOM discovery as part of the program.
In the 2019-20 financial year, Deloitte won six contracts with the DTA worth more than $25 million, including the work on the myGov update. It was awarded only two contracts worth $623,000 in the previous financial year.
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