The Department of Health and Aged Care has awarded consultants Accenture a $10.5 million contract and former PwC consultants Scyne Advisory a $12.8 million contract to deliver 'computer services' related to implementation of the new Aged Care Act.
Both contracts are set to conclude on 31 October 2025, in line with the Government's planned 1 July 2025 rollout for the new laws.
In the May Federal Budget, the Government committed $1.2 billion over five years for the "sustainment of, and essential enhancements to, critical aged care digital systems so they remain legislatively compliant and contemporary and can support the introduction of the new Aged Care Act from 1 July 2025".
A statement from the Department of Health and Aged Care in response to questions from The Weekly SOURCE said, "Accenture and Scyne have been engaged by the Department of Health and Aged Care to provide ICT specialist expertise, including business architecture, analysts, system testing and technical writing.
"These contracts are necessary to support a short-term surge in the need for ICT expertise required to deliver digital implementation of the New Aged Care Act."
Last year, the Federal Government said it will reduce its reliance on external consultants following the PwC scandal, where consultants helped draft tax laws that were then used as a marketing device and in advice they gave clients.
The Minister for Finance Katy Gallagher said public servants must perform the "core work" of the Government, such as drafting regulation and leading policy development, and outsourcing must be restricted to "defined circumstances".
Details of the Scyne contract are available here and of the Accenture contract are available here.
