AEC preps election IT systems overhaul for market – Strategy – Security – Software
The Australian Electoral Commission has squandered no time forging in advance with its after-in-a-generation core IT programs overhaul immediately after previous week’s federal spending budget windfall.
Just days immediately after $96.7 million in first funding for the lengthy-awaited overhaul was verified, the agency has exposed programs to tender for the to start with stage of work just before the calendar year is out.
In a pre-launch observe to business on Monday, the AEC stated the foundational infrastructure for the modernisation application, dubbed the Indigo Method, would be sought in Q4 of 2020.
Techniques integration, business integration, business support management, business approach management and offer chain management are the superior-stage abilities that are expected to drop below the tender.
The modernisation is considered “necessary to underpin the ongoing integrity of federal electoral occasions, particularly in relation to the significantly complicated cyber security environment”.
The AEC has been planning the overhaul of the country’s thirty-calendar year-aged election IT programs for the previous two decades to mitigate from potential cyber security threats and deliver enhanced expert services.
The integrity of electoral IT programs have been in the highlight for at minimum the previous four decades, when an inquiry in the aftermath of the 2016 federal election lifted major problems.
The overhaul will see the agency change the 93 programs and supporting subsystems that guidance elections, as well as supporting mainframe infrastructure.
It is expected to acquire position more than the upcoming seven decades, slicing across two federal elections nominally scheduled for May well 2022 and May well 2025.
Initial spending budget funding will go in direction of the AEC’s get in touch with centre modernisation and a new system to take care of the 90,000-robust short-term workforce during an election.
Long run expense – very likely in 2022-23 or 2023-24 – will address the substitution of the hugely-customised legacy electoral roll and election management system.
The spending budget funding follows a hiring spree for the modernisation application in May well, with the AEC contacting for twenty developers, engineers and other IT experts to start work this economic calendar year.
The recruitment push bundled a layout lead to guidance the core programs overhaul for up to two decades.
Given that then, the AEC has entered into 6 ‘ICT contractor’ agreements really worth a mixed total of just about $one.3 million. The contracts variety from five months to ten months in size.
It has also spent $527,692 on a Microsoft Azure developer for 18 months’ work, as well as $230,000 on a data migration expert for just more than a few months’ work.
