The Digital Transformation Agency has doubled the value of a contract with the Boston Consulting Group for “funding options analysis”, although the six-month duration of the contract period remains the same.
Boston Consulting has now landed work worth more than $2 million from the DTA this year.
On the same day as the BCG contract amendment was posted publicly on the AusTender website, another new DTA contract with another global consulting house – KPMG – worth nearly $600,000 was also revealed.
The DTA on Monday published a series of new contracts to AusTender, including two significant ones with the large consultancies.
BCG, which has landed a number of jobs from the DTA this year, was awarded a pay rise for its “funding options analysis”, doubling the value of the contract to $875,600. The amendment, worth $479,600, kicked in at the end of May, with the contract running until the end of November.
The contract is for BCG to provide “critical advice, products and services using a taskforce model to improve digital services for government”.
BCG was awarded another pay rise for its work with the DTA earlier this month, with its contract to provide “whole-of-Australian-government ICT policy and governance” doubled to just under $550,000.
BCG has now won contracts with the DTA worth more than $2 million in 2020 alone, after previously having only won a single contract with the agency, worth just $110,000.
The global consultancy worked closely with the DTA on the development of the COVIDSafe contact tracing app and was paid more than $800,000 for this work.
DTA chief executive Randall Brugeand is an ex-BCG executive, having worked at the firm from 2008 to 2010, while the DTA’s former chief strategy officer Anthony Vlasic left the agency at the start of the year to join BCG.
KPMG has also been awarded a new contract worth $580,000 to provide “procurement strategy support” to the DTA.
The same firm was also awarded a significant pay increase for a different contract with the agency, with the value jumping from $200,000 originally to $1.5 million for providing “subject matter expertise for transformation and improvement of government digital services”.
KPMG is also regularly contracted by the DTA, bringing in $1.365 million in the last financial year. The firm is also closely involved with the DTA’s GovPass digital identity project on an ongoing basis.
In response to queries about the two contracts awarded to KPMG and BCG, a spokesperson for the DTA said the agency “manages a range of initiatives that improve digital experiences for Australians and make better use of government investments.”
“This work is being undertaken in response to ongoing requirements and in accordance with the Commonwealth Procurement Rules,” the spokesperson told InnovationAus.
The DTA has significantly increased its reliance on external contractors and consultants in the last financial year, with contracts increasing in terms of value by five times compared to 2018-19.
This month Deloitte was also awarded a more than $5 million pay rise for its work on a new myGov platform. That contract, which is now worth nearly $30 million, has tripled in size since it was first awarded earlier this year.
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