Deloitte will be paid more than $1 million for six months of work on the federal government’s new digital platform for job seekers, joining a number of other large firms involved with the project.
The Department of Education, Skills and Employment awarded the $1,151,775 contract to Deloitte earlier this year for work on the New Employment Services Model (NESM) digital platform, which will replace the jobactive program next year, offering online tools and access to employment services to Australians.
Deloitte will work with tech consultancy DXC, which is being paid nearly $8 million to develop the digital platform. Part of this work will be contracted to other companies including Microsoft, SAS, Thinkplace, Annex and Veritec.
The government provided $295.9 million over four years in the 2020-21 budget for the new digital employment services platform, which it said will “transform the delivery of employment services in Australia.
“The platform will be available to all Australians, providing better connections between job seekers and employers, helping them to match employment opportunities, supporting training and reskilling, and getting Australians back to work,” the government said in the budget.
The platform will be for job seekers to access “online tools” to make decisions about job searches, and a contact centre. Employment services providers will also be licensed onto the platform, which the government has said will be more personalised and flexible than the existing jobactive program.
The tech work on the platform began last month after DXC was awarded two contracts from the department late last year.
The first contract, running from 14 December last year to 30 June 2021, is for “specified personnel to support the NESM solution”, and is worth $5 million. A week later DXC was awarded another contract worth $6.27 million running from 24 December to 29 April to develop the new digital platform.
In a press statement late last year, DXC said the deal involves work with Microsoft, SAS, Thinkplace, Annex and Veritec to create the platform, which will be based on Microsoft Dynamics 365.
“The platform is being designed to cater to a new generation of digital savvy, job-ready candidates who will be able to self-navigate the online tools to make more informed decisions about their job search,” DXC said.
“New and existing employers will also experience a better service, including the ability to easily filter and search for candidates through a single interface.”
Boston Consulting Group also netted a $1.529 million contract for change management advisory services on the project from October last year to the end of June.
Deloitte is also leading the development of the new myGov platform, having been awarded various contracts worth a total of $35 million in the last 18 months.
The consulting heavyweight is also developing a new platform for the research and development tax incentive on a $1 million contract, with plans to launch the service midway through this year.
The Digital Transformation Agency also recently awarded Deloitte a six-month, $500,000 contract for “whole of government strategy and architectural support”.
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