AEC reorganisation opens CIO role

The Australian Electoral Commission is looking for a chief information officer (CIO) for its enterprise transformation group (ETG).

The commission told iTnews it is looking for a non-ongoing CIO “following an organisational restructure that occurred in 2023.”

The reorganisation created a CIO role under the ETG division, and the role is currently filled by acting CIO John Forrest.

The search comes at a crucial time for the commission, with the first tranche of its Electoral Systems Modernisation project, the Indigo Program, currently in delivery and the second tranche soon to begin.

In its recruitment advertisement, the AEC emphasised the CIO’s role in delivering Indigo.

The ETG, the advertisement said, is focused on “delivering a modernisation agenda that will see the AEC transition away from legacy election and roll management systems onto contemporary, citizen centric and secure solutions.”

According to the AEC’s 2023-2024 annual report [pdf], Tranche 1 is expected to complete “technical delivery” this financial year.

This includes delivering a system to support its 100,000-strong temporary election workforce, enterprise integration, and enterprise service management including the commission’s election contact centre.

The upcoming Tranche 2 was funded in the federal government’s 2023-2024 budget, but the amount of funding was not published due to “ongoing commercial negotiations”.

In its 2023 corporate plan [pdf], the AEC said Tranche 2 “will focus on mitigating enduring and significant risks to electoral integrity and Australia’s democratic resilience."

“In addition, it will enhance voter and stakeholder experiences by replacing legacy election management systems with modern and secure technologies.”

Indigo was first budgeted in 2020, and in 2022, Epicon and Accenture were selected to kick off the project.

In August 2022, the AEC launched the first requests for information (RFIs) for Tranche 2, and in January 2023, it issued tenders for the temporary election workforce payroll.