Australian govt gears up for 2016 digital census

The Australian government is looking to make the 2016 Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Census digital, and has gone to tender for IT systems required for the digital move.

The ABS says it will pay special attention to a company's ability to handle the high risk involved in capturing the personal information of 6.5 million homes in such a small timeframe.

According to the tender documents, the specific work required by the successful tenderer will be separated into two phases: The IT infrastructure review and the subsequent development of a statement of requirement to engage a prime partner for building the actual architecture of the system.

In the first phase, the ABS is looking for a provider to appraise and provide advice on the government's IT environment and capacity to fulfil the necessities of the digital Census, and then evaluate the outside IT market so as to provide current information on the capacity and availability of appropriate prime partners to produce the Census systems architecture.

The tenderer will then review the ABS' prior assessment of how many technical roles will be required, when, for how long, how important they are, and whether it will be able to fill those roles from its existing staff. Finally, the tenderer will examine whether the budget allocated and forecast for the project is appropriate to deliver the platform in its entirety.

The second phase will require the successful applicant to develop a statement of requirement in order to appoint a prime partner based on the determinations from the first phase.

The prime partner will have to produce and follow a suitable scheme for delivering IT services that meet the project's objectives, and also the functional, technical, and business requirements of the ABS.

The contract outlined in the current call for tenders will be for a six-month period, with the ability to extend it if necessary, although it is predicted that the project will only have a duration of two months.