The Department of Human Services (DHS) has selected SAP as the preferred core solution vendor (CSV) for the Welfare Payment Infrastructure Transformation (WPIT) Programme, a crucial component in the agency’s wide-ranging business transformation.
Support for a project replacing Australia’s ageing welfare payment system, first implemented in the early 1980s, was announced by the Federal Government in April 2015.
DHS is yet to complete negotiations with SAP on the project, with no contract signed as yet. According to tender documents, the WPIT will “most likely” be undertaken in a series of tranches over a seven-year period.
On the deal, an SAP spokesperson said, “SAP welcomes the opportunity provided by the Australian Government to work with the Department of Human Services as the core software vendor for the transformation of Australia’s Welfare Payments Infrastructure. Pending commercial agreement, SAP looks forward to partnering with the Department in this strategic programme which will modernise and improve the way welfare payments are delivered to Australians.”
Minister for Human Services Alan Tudge (pictured) said the project will be “one of the most significant digital transformations in its history”.
“This is a once-in-a-generation project that will transform Government service delivery to meet the challenges of the digital age,” Minister Tudge said. “The system is one of the largest and most complex in the world, delivering more than $110 billion of payments to over four million households, through more than 100 million transactions each year.”
Tudge said the project would also seek to link government systems for faster processing – for example, linking Australian Taxation Office and Centrelink data.
A statement by the Minister said that the tranche-based approach is “based on industry best practice and provides the flexibility to review progress, adapt to emerging technology and work through challenges as they arise”.
DHS disclosed the selection of SAP in RFT documents for the appointment of a Systems Integrator (SI) panel on the project.
Up to six SIs are expected to be appointed to work on the project, which will be focused on welfare payments and services. The department’s health-related, Medicare and Aged Care programmes, and Child Support Scheme payments, services and systems are outside the scope of the project.
Tenderers are asked, among other information, to provide evidence of their involvement in a large-scale business transformation in which SAP CRM, SAP ERP, SAP Social Services and/or SAP HANA were deployed.
The closing date for tenders is 26 August, and it is expected that the panel will be appointed by early October.
