The Digital Transformation Agency is yet to finalise a contractor for the crucial next stage of the large-scale myGov update, three months after the work was slated to begin.
The Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) is currently working on a new government digital experience platform, dubbed GovDXP, to run alongside and eventually replace myGov.
The DTA went to the market in March for a “systems integrator with hosting and software partners” to complete the next stage – Horizon 2 – of GovDXP, with an estimated start date of 1 July.
The DTA confirmed this week that this procurement is still “ongoing” and a contractor had not been officially selected yet, despite the listing on the Digital Marketplace flagging that work was expected to begin from July.
The bulk of the work so far has been contracted to Deloitte, which has been paid nearly $30 million to develop a prototype platform and a working beta version of the updated service.
The GovDXP project is split into a number of stages, or “horizons”. Horizon 1 was contracted to consulting giant Deloitte and involved the creation of a beta platform offering personalised content including a web-based myGov inbox, opt-in notifications and login access to the myGov platform.
A new beta version of the myGov update was launched this week, and Deloitte’s contract, now worth more than $28 million, came to an end on Wednesday this week.
“Work is continuing on the myGov beta website. This release was guided by user feedback and provides additional functionality focused on helping people who are seeking to access JobSeeker support,” a DTA spokesperson told InnovationAus.
“We encourage people that use the myGov beta to provide feedback and help deliver a better experience for all Australians. Australians can continue to use the existing myGov platform.”
On the new beta version, users can claim for a JobSeeker payment, see the status of their payments with Centrelink, see and manage the myGov inbox and leave feedback on the update.
The overall aim of the project is to “enhance the myGov platform to provide simple, smart and personalised service to customers”.
The new platform will provide the services available on myGov but with a user experience more akin to a private sector service such as Facebook. It will also feature a recommendations system similar to that used by Netflix.
“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.
Horizon 2 of the project will involve allowing users to browse information and manage government services on the one new platform, which will include a dashboard, profile, inbox and forms.
Fourteen sellers applied for the tender for this section of work.
Deloitte initially won a $9.5 million contract earlier this year to complete Horizon 1 of the GovDXP build, but the value of this deal eventually tripled across a series of contract amendments. Deloitte was paid $28.1 million for the six months work on the beta platform.
Former NDIS Technology Authority head Marie Johnson, who was also the Chief Technology Architect of the Health and Human Services Access Card said the bill for Horizon 2 is likely to be far bigger.
“One thing is for sure, given the expensiveness of the myGov ‘update’, $28 million will be a rounding error in the final price tag,” Ms Johnson said.
Editor’s note: this story was updated on 1 October. After initially saying that a contractor had been selected, the DTA later clarified that the procurement process was “ongoing”.
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