Deloitte's son-of-myGov platform price doubles to $20m

The cost of the federal government’s new Facebook-inspired digital service platform has climbed to almost $20 million after the contract for the beta build more than doubled in value.

The seven-month deal with Deloitte to further develop the government digital experience platform (GovDXP) more than doubled in value on Monday, from $9.5 million to $19.5 million.

The platform is tipped to eventually replace myGov with a single, tailored view of a citizen’s interactions with the government, though it will initially operate in parallel.

The increase comes less than a fortnight after the original contract with the big four consultancy was published for work that kicked off on the same day that myGov crashed.

Deloitte has been developing the platform using government user research and architecture requirements since January after it was initially paid just under $1 million for the prototype.

The prototype was expected to be completed by May, though the Digital Transformation Agency has declined to provide an update on the build since.

Under the now $19.5 million contract, Deloitte is understood to be responsible for building out the first of three key releases for GOVDXP - or what the DTA is calling ‘horizon one’.

Horizon one is expected to include a beta of the “new government platform”, as well as a “web-based myGov inbox, opt-in notifications and login access to myGov”.

The DTA has already released ‘horizon zero’ - a homepage on Australia.gov.au to help centralise information on the current coronavirus pandemic.

A future ‘horizon two’ will then be delivered in partnership with a system integrator that will include “an integration layer [that] will sit over the myGov systems”.

“The new front end will provide dashboard, profile, inbox and forms, along with information systems such as content pages and notifications,” a DTA blog predicts.

“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 for you'.”

While the cost of the Deloitte contract is now nudging $20 million, the DTA is still in the process of developing a business case for the project.

Last month, McKinsey was handed a $1 million deal to devise a business, though it is not known if it forms part of the first or second stage of the ICT investment approval process.