Government Outsourcing
Australian federal and state governments spend an estimated $20.8 billion per year on consulting firms. That's approximately $1,224 per taxpayer per year.
Annual spend figure from Consultancy UK. Vendor contract data from AusTender (contracts over $10,000). AusTender values represent contract ceilings and panel maximums, not actual spend.
$1,224
Per Taxpayer / Year
$20.8B
Annual Consulting Spend
31
Departments Tracked
17
Vendors
IT Contract Blowouts
Original budget vs final reported cost for major government IT contracts.
Values in $M AUD. Sources: Senate Estimates, Auditor-General reports, public reporting.
1
Vendor contracts
$9.6M Census 2016 contract. Website crashed on census night.
8
Vendor contracts
7
Vendor contracts
8
Vendor contracts
8
Vendor contracts
Confirmed: end user computing + ESMC contracts. Part of ~$200M/year combined (iTnews).
Confirmed: $100M+ PCEHR infrastructure + $111M data warehousing (iTnews).
Centralised Computing. Started at $738M, ballooned to $2.5B+ through 69 amendments.
8
Vendor contracts
6
Vendor contracts
8
Vendor contracts
8
Vendor contracts
6
Vendor contracts
8
Vendor contracts
6
Vendor contracts
7
Vendor contracts
9
Vendor contracts
$10M+ COVIDSafe app. Detected very few contacts. Widely considered a failure.
7
Vendor contracts
Provider Management System (GPMS). Grew from $260M to $592M.
8
Vendor contracts
7
Vendor contracts
7
Vendor contracts
7
Vendor contracts
7
Vendor contracts
4
Vendor contracts
$49M in 6 months (2024-25). Labor spending more than Morrison despite pledging cuts.
$46M in 6 months (2024-25).
$10.7M in 6 months (2024-25).
$27M in 6 months. Company created after PwC offloaded its government business post-tax leak scandal.
1
Vendor contracts
myGov platform development and maintenance.
1
Vendor contracts
1
Vendor contracts
B total Myki lifetime cost
1
Vendor contracts
8
Vendor contracts
PwC produced a PowerPoint presentation that became the agreed deliverable for a million-dollar consulting outlay on Robodebt.
1
Vendor contracts
$394M desktop outsourcing contract. Some services delivered offshore.
1
Vendor contracts
Confirmed: $34.9M over 5 years for 107 legacy apps (iTnews). Work performed offshore.
2
Vendor contracts
Confirmed: $158M — 40% increase from original contract (iTnews). App migration delays.
Confirmed: $119.4M for 5-year network services (iTnews). Replaced DXC.
Government outsourcing data is compiled from AusTender, public reporting, and parliamentary records. Contract values from AusTender (2007-2025).