Human Services ramps up eMarketplace build

The Department of Human Services is ramping up the build of its recently launched eMarketplace platform to grow the number of services offered directly to customers.

The department has called on prospective partners to help deliver the whole-of-government platform, which launched last December as ‘Service Connect’.

The eMarketplace, which is is based on the Magento Commerce platform, aims to connect customers directly with service providers to purchase products or services using their government entitlements.

The department first revealed plans for the platform in it's 2016-20 technology strategy, but has been tight lipped on its development since then.

The platform was launched alongside the Digital Transformation Agency's platforms strategy last December, with a single service – a Child Care Finder tool that allows families to search for child care services and vaccines.

The government, however, intends to expand the platform so that it can hostother services, possibly across federal, state and local government jurisdictions.

In light of this, the department has begun looking for one or more providers to provide system integration services to deliver the platform over the next three years.

It is similarly wants assurance services, including architectural and technical design reviews of any work completed by the system integrators, as well as other resourcing services.

"The Service Connect platform will continue to evolve as future programs are on-boarded with new capabilities added based on business need," request for tender documents state.

This could include adding payment functionality to the platform at a future stage to facilitate the purchase of products, though "initial releases ... will be non-transactional and used as a directory of services for customers to locate providers".

Minister for Human Services and Digital Transformation Michael Keenan has previously said that a future version of the platform would be used by individuals to “access all the support services they need, covering the entire journey of life events from cradle to grave”.

It is not known if the platform will serve the National Disability and Insurance Agency, which is yet to make good on its offer for a eMarketplace for national disability insurance scheme participants.