The Australian Electoral Commission will use Accenture to build and deliver a new technology system to implement election donation laws that passed parliament early last year.
The commission named Accenture as its “ICT delivery partner for funding and disclosure (FAD)” in a contract worth $30 million over the next two-and-a-half years.
FAD is what the AEC calls a reform package that passed parliament in February last year, which imposes additional obligations on political donors.
Under the reforms, the AEC’s regulatory remit “will expand significantly”, and new “processes, resourcing, tools, systems and technology” are also needed.
A spokesperson for the commission confirmed Accenture as the “sole partner” engaged on the project, although they would work “work closely” with AEC technology teams “to build a secure, modern ICT system.”
The contract sets an expectation that the new platform to manage political donations and disclosures will be cloud-based.
“This is one of the biggest changes to Australia’s electoral laws in 40 years, fundamentally reshaping how the AEC will regulate political funding and disclosure,” AEC’s spokesperson said.
“In addition to accommodating the new complex processes required, the system will keep sensitive data secure and make it easier for candidates, parties, and organisations to meet their financial disclosure obligations.
“Services [to be provided by Accenture] include designing, building and integrating complex systems, and supporting the transition to a significantly expanded regulatory role.”
One of the key aspects of the system will be its capability to enable “the expedited disclosure of financial information, including the publication of donation information on a weekly basis during an election period, daily in the week before and after election day, and monthly at all other times,” the spokesperson said.
While the contract spans multiple years, the AEC spokesperson said that “new functionality will be in place to support the start of the reforms from July 1 2026.”
Accenture will then oversee an “iterative uplift” of that initial platform build, which will run through “until the end of the project in June 2028”, although the contract does have provisions for a one-year extension.