Bureau of Meteorology
Federal GovernmentNot Yet ReviewedOutsourcing Summary
Based on AusTender records and public reporting.
Outsourcing Vendors
8
Total Contracts
8
Work Performed In
Via outsourcing vendors
In Plain English
- Bureau of Meteorology has 8 outsourcing vendor relationships recorded on AusTender.
- Accenture — on panel (AusTender 2007-2025).
- Deloitte — on panel (AusTender 2007-2025).
- Leidos — on panel (AusTender 2007-2025).
- DXC Technology — on panel (AusTender 2007-2025).
- KPMG — on panel (AusTender 2007-2025).
- PwC — on panel (AusTender 2007-2025).
- EY — on panel (AusTender 2007-2025).
- IBM — on panel (AusTender 2007-2025).
Based on data from public sources at the dates reported. Figures may not reflect current headcount. See sources below for full attribution.
The Story
- 2019The Bureau of Meteorology contracted Accenture to build a new digital channels platform. Original contract value: $31 million. Deloitte was also engaged at a forecast cost of $11 million. [reinteractive]
- May 2024In Senate Estimates — before the website had even launched — Senator Barbara Pocock questioned the BOM director: "The original value was $31 million. Since then, there have been eight amendments which have steadily increased the value to over $58 million." The director could not explain the near-doubling and took the question on notice. [Senate Estimates]
- July 2024BOM's written answer to the Senate: the cost increases were due to "dependency delays due to ICT infrastructure and environment availability, extensions of the contract utilising planned and existing contract options and additional technology integration interface work." [Senate Estimates QoN SQ24-000491]
- 2024The total project cost was revealed as $96.5 million — still before the website launched. Accenture received $78 million (2.5x the original $31M). Deloitte received $35 million (3x the original $11M). Senator David Pocock called it "a nightmare in contract failure." [The Nightly]
- 2024Analysis found that removing technical resources from the Bureau and replacing them with global consulting firms meant BOM lacked the expertise to govern the project. Idle Accenture resources waiting on Deloitte drove costs up further. [reinteractive]
- October 2025The redesigned website finally launched — six years after the contract was signed. It was widely criticised for removing popular features and replacing the precise fire danger scale (0-100) with a generic red badge. BOM was ordered to fix it after a torrent of complaints. [ABC News]
- October 2025BOM publicly claimed the website redesign cost $4.1 million. ABC News revealed the Accenture CMS contract alone was $78 million, and with additional contractors working alongside Accenture staff, the true cost could be as high as $150 million. [ABC News]
- November 2025BOM's general manager Matt Collopy insisted on ABC radio that "the figure that we put out publicly, that this redesign costs $4.1 million, is accurate." The ABC noted the $4.1M covered only the front-end design — not the $78M+ content management system underneath it. [ABC News]
- November 2025Minister Murray Watt avoided questions about the cost, describing the BOM as "a great Australian institution." The BOM's broader IT transformation program "Robust" ran for seven years at a cost of $866 million. [ABC News]
All facts sourced from public reporting. No editorial commentary. Click source links to verify.
Consultancy Engagements
| Vendor | Type | Contract Value | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accenture | Managed Services | On panel | Confirmed |
| Deloitte | Consulting | On panel | Confirmed |
| Leidos | Managed Services | On panel | Confirmed |
| DXC Technology | Managed Services | On panel | Confirmed |
| KPMG | Managed Services | On panel | Confirmed |
| PwC | Managed Services | On panel | Confirmed |
| EY | Managed Services | On panel | Confirmed |
| IBM | Managed Services | On panel | Confirmed |
What Public Sources Say
All information below is sourced from publicly available documents and reporting. Excerpts are direct quotes. Click source links to verify.
Other
AusTender Contract Data (2007-2025)“All Commonwealth Government contracts over $10,000 published on AusTender since 1 July 2007.”
News
BOM $96M website blowout - The Nightly“Accenture received $78 million for the BOM website, despite the original contract forecasting just $31 million.”
News
The $75M BoM Website Redesign & How to Avoid Failure - reinteractive“Deloitte received $35 million for its work on the BOM site instead of the original $11 million forecasted. Idle resources within Accenture were waiting for work to be completed by Deloitte, driving costs up.”