IBM wins AU$1bn five-year digital-transformation contract with Australian federal government

IBM deal comes days after Australian government was slammed over a string of IT failures

Systems giant IBM has won a AU$1 billion deal with the Australian federal government's Digital Transformation Agency that will include hardware, software and cloud services, as well as support for programs in quantum computing, IT security and research.

IBM already has a number of big deals with Australian government departments and agencies, including the Department of Human Services, Department of Home Affairs, Department of Defence and the Australian Tax Office.

According to IBM, "the agreement improves the current arrangements and gives them the autonomy and flexibility to change the profile of their technology over the next five years", but it's not clear whether the new deal augments or replaces those existing deals.

Nevertheless, IBM claims that it will help generate "significant savings" to the Australian government over the next five years "while delivering services that are simple, convenient and easy to use" for both people and businesses.

The deal was partly sold on IBM's artificial intelligence and cloud technology, and its potential for helping to automate many services online.

"IBM and the Department of Digital Transformation will convene a group made up of government and industry leaders to prioritize the introduction of new technologies to citizen services.

"Not only will this give Australians access to emerging technologies as they are developed, but the company will help the government re-engineer its platforms to protect and encrypt citizen data against modern-day cyber-security threats," IBM claimed in a statement.

The Department of Digital Transformation, meanwhile, described the deal as a "whole of government agreement" that will "make it easier for government agencies to purchase IBM products and services".

For agencies already using IBM services, existing contracts will be moved under the new arrangement or included once they are established, the Department added, and all new contracts will be made under the whole-of-government arrangement.

News of the deal comes just days after the Australian Senate Standing Committees on Finance and Public Administration slammed the government for a lack of clarity over its digital transformation policies, following a string of IT failures.

"Throughout this inquiry… it has become clear to the committee that digital transformation is a policy area beset by soaring rhetoric and vague aspirations by government, largely unconnected to the actual policy activities actually undertaken," the report concluded.

In recent years, the Australian government has overseen a series of IT disasters, including the handling of the 2016 census, which had been outsourced to… IBM.