The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) has contracted EY to stand up a cloud-based master data management platform to underpin the next stage of its ICT modernisation.
The $14 million platform will be a “foundational infrastructure component” for the AEC’s systems upgrade known as ‘Project Indigo’ an AEC spokesperson toldiTnews.
“The new platform is expected to provide data validation, enrichment, and distribution services for use by AEC systems and applications,” the spokesperson said.
“The platform will facilitate the consistent handling of master data (for example, location data) and will ensure that data is shared and used by various applications and systems in standardised way to prevent data fragmentation, siloed data, and duplication.”
The master data management platform will be foundational for a suite of new election management systems, the spokesperson said.
“This [platform] will enable the longer-term decommissioning of the master data management capability embedded within the roll management system and address data quality issues associated with not having this capability integrated within the election management system,” the AEC wrote in its original approach to market.
The data management platform will replace a suite a legacy systems, the spokesperson added, to meet the increasing data expectations of our internal and external stakeholders.”
The AEC expects the new platform to play only “a minor role” at the next federal election, which is due before May 2028, the spokesperson said.
After then, the spokesperson said the platform will expand in scope and cover a greater footprint of the AEC’s systems.
The contract with EY will run until November 2028, but can be extended as far as November 2034.
Project Indigo
Project Indigo began in 2020 with the AEC seeking foundational infrastructure for its ICT modernisation.
In 2023, the commission began to upgrade its temporary election workforce payroll system.
The first tranche of the project was completed during 2024-2025, the AEC wrote in its annual report [pdf].
Included in that tranche was a new contact centre and the AEC’s new command centre.
Tranche two began in July 2023, the AEC said in the report. This tranche includes the new election management system and a modernisation of the roll management system.
Last month, the AEC also approached the market for a supply chain management system.
The second tranche is expected to be completed by June 2027.