The Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) is claiming progress in getting departments and agencies to tie specific delivery milestones to funding requests for their technology projects.
The agency said it has been working with the Department of Finance and with “entities bringing forward new policy proposals… to design those proposals to link funding with the delivery of milestones aligned to identified and measurable benefits.”
“The intention is to reduce cost risk and improve transparency of the proposal’s implementation status to the Australian government,” the DTA said in a parliamentary submission [pdf] published last week.
The agency said the “recent” work forms part of its implementation of an investment oversight framework (IOF) for digital and ICT projects, which came into effect in mid-2021.
The DTA cited four examples it saw as illustrative of efforts to make the progress of technology projects more transparent.
Of these, the second phase of a big data project at the Australian Bureau of Statistics is described as having “a key feature in the design” linking “funding and the achievement of delivery milestones.”
The DTA also lists three other programs of work supported through the investment oversight framework - in aged care, the Attorney-General’s department and the Bureau of Meteorology.
Aged care is a major beneficiary of recent budget funding, with hundreds of millions being put into ICT reform.
A DTA spokesperson confirmed to iTnews that in each case, specific milestones were tied to these three funding requests as well, which were all approved as part of the mid-year economic and fiscal outlook (MYEFO) at the end of last year.
In its submission, the DTA said its evolving role interacting with digital projects across government sees it providing advice on possible paths forward where projects “fall short of … expectations”.
“The DTA provides independent advice to [the] government on opportunities to de-risk proposals and, in extreme cases, a deferment of consideration of the digital elements of an [new policy proposal],” it said.
“For example, the DTA would seek to substantiate reuse cases prior to funding being considered or might provide advice to ministers on alternate governance arrangements to ensure key decisions undertaken throughout program delivery are made in partnership with affected entities.”
The additional governance and linkages between funding and delivery were put in place after several large technology projects in federal government did not deliver as intended.
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