Accenture gets another $6m for vaccine rollout


Denham Sadler
National Affairs Editor

Accenture has been given a further $6 million to continue work on its COVID-19 vaccine ordering platform as the federal government readies for a significant expansion, with the Irish-domiciled consulting giant now paid $20 million for work on the rollout.

The Department of Health awarded Accenture a contract amendment worth $6.3 million this month for its work on the vaccine ordering system, which it has provided to the government for several years.

The company will now be paid $13.3 million in total to make “modest enhancements” to this platform to accommodate for the COVID-19 vaccine.

Accenture was also paid $8 million to deliver a COVID-19 vaccine data solution, which was delivered to the government in February.

Accenture has won a further $6m for its COVID-19 vaccine rollout work

The current contract is for “vaccine data solution enhancements and support”, and involves further developments to the ordering solution that Accenture has provided to the federal government for several years.

“This data solution requires modest enhancements to keep pace with developments in the vaccine rollout. The ordering solution requires several changes, recognising the difference between ordinary vaccine distribution compared to the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, such as the staged expansion of the program through phases,” a Department of Health spokesperson told InnovationAus.

“This work will continue as more points of presence such as pharmacies are included, as well as the major expansion of the rollout with increased supply in quarter four. The contract extends the work to develop and enhance these systems, along with support arrangements to ensure the systems remain stable.”

With the amendment, the contract now runs from the end of May to 22 October.

Accenture was appointed as the federal government’s digital and data lead for the vaccine rollout late last year. It was awarded an $8 million contract to develop a software solution to track the vaccine from arrival to injection, providing “point in time” visibility of doses across the supply chain.

The Irish-domiciled consultancy has now been paid more than $21 million for its work on the federal government’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout.

Accenture was also recently awarded a $3.1 million pay rise from the ATO for the “provision of strategic support services”, bringing the contract to a total of $7.4 million from July 2020 to December this year.

A spokesperson for the ATO said this contract is for support for the tax office’s Secure Internet Gateway program.

Last year was a significant one for Accenture, which saw the size of its contracts with the federal government jump by 15 per cent during the pandemic.

The overall value of the contracts awarded to Accenture in 2020 was $786.4 million, with the bulk of these coming from the ATO. The consultancy landed two contracts late last year each worth more than $40 million, and also won a $14 million contract earlier this year for work on the digital identity scheme.

The ATO also recently awarded Boston Consulting Group (BCG) a $2 million contract over four months for the “provision of computer services”. BCG will be paid $500,000 per month for this work, with an ATO spokesperson saying it relates to the ATO’s modernisation program.

“The contract with BCG is for them, in partnership with the ATO, to develop and document a strategy, roadmap and business case for the modernising ATO IT systems program of work,” the spokesperson told InnovationAus.

“This program will play a key role in reshaping the ATO’s technology landscape to deliver on the ATO’s strategic initiatives.”

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