Gov tried to build a reusable IT workflow tool, with no commitments to reuse it

The federal government embarked on a project to create a reusable IT workflow system for “permissions-based services”, without any firm commitments from agencies to use it.

The finding is contained in the footnotes of an audit of the permissions capability platform [pdf], a pandemic-era project intended to help Home Affairs digitally manage Australia’s border reopening.

While initially supporting Home Affairs, the project contained a second phase where it was meant to be reused “across government”, with reuse to be overseen by the Digital Transformation Agency (DTA).

But nine months into the project - which was awarded to Accenture - an internal review concluded “only four per cent of the base capability” for Home Affairs had been delivered, and that it was “ an inflexible product with unresolved defects”.

The deadline to make that reusable was also missed, and Home Affairs and DTA assessed the potential for what had been created to be reused by anyone was questionable.

“While the permissions capability architecture was to enable a modular, loosely coupled solution which can be tailored to meets the needs of a range of reuse cases, the cost of such tailoring was unclear and may create a barrier to reuse, particularly for smaller agencies,” the internal review stated.

More puzzlingly, the same internal review identified that no other agencies had committed to even trying to reuse it, despite that being a core part of the project.

“[The] permissions capability review report prepared by Home Affairs and the DTA in June 2022 concluded that outside of the Home Affairs portfolio, agencies have not yet committed to specific reuse of the permissions capability,” the auditor noted.

“Due to a lack of a completed detailed design and operating costs and sustainment models, engagement has not yet been undertaken with agencies. 

“Agencies have therefore not been able to determine which aspects of the permissions capability they can reuse, how they could reuse the permissions capability, nor if it will provide an affordable and sustainable solution.”

The project was ultimately terminated inside 11 months and after $16.5 million had been spent. Accenture said it received around 60 percent of that.

While the audit is scathing of key aspects of the project, much of it is in dispute by the project teams, both inside Home Affairs and outsourced through Accenture.

Home Affairs indicates it was being pulled in all directions, and was having to “adapt and pivot as Australian government priorities changed”.

Accenture also defended its work, telling auditors that “during the delivery of the program, the department [of Home Affairs] and Accenture were not always in alignment on what had been delivered and what needed to happen (including department inputs) to complete delivery.”

It added that it was “committed to successful delivery” of complex government IT programs, “whether these programs adhere to their initial expectations or have unforeseen challenges”.

The audit is critical of the way Home Affairs ran aspects of the procurement, including that it agreed to a “systems integration” model for delivery, which differed from the preferred model outlined in tender documents.

Auditors said the arrangement saw Accenture split liability between itself and multiple parties, such as software vendors; with Home Affairs left to carry much of the risk should things go badly.