The Australian Public Service Commission (APSC) has insourced and expanded the redevelopment of a database of current and former APS staff, after earlier handing PwC $3.8 million to deliver the program of work.
The public service body is now looking to hire expertise to “complete” the project after spending the past eight months reviewing the capability and “strategic direction” of the project.
The APS Employment Database (APSED) stores information relating to all current and former public service employees.
The APSC originally contracted PwC in November 2022 to “stabilise and redevelop the back and front end of APSED and develop additional features to realise the full potential of the dataset”.
The original scope of the contract was “to deliver three core components with change management support” while considering “the compatibility of the system with other projects” such as the federal government’s new ERP platform.
Following a three-month extension, PwC’s APSED contract finished in November 2023, with APSC then taking the project in-house.
An APSC spokesperson told iTnews that “PwC handed over the agreed project deliverables” at the time its contract expired, but that the commission is now working to “enhance functionality beyond the original deliverables”.
In April this year, APSC paid Deloitte almost $30,000 to carry out a month-long technical review of APSED.
In June, APSC also handed Deloitte a $165,000 contract to determine “visions and benefit” of APSED.
This contract is due to end on September 1.
Currently, APSC is looking to hire three additional roles to manage and support the continued redevelopment of APSED.
“Throughout 2023 the APSC reviewed its capability, strategic direction and what is needed for the APSC to support the APS now and into the future,” an APSC spokesperson said.
“The commission will take the APSED use cases from Deloitte to inform a more detailed solution design, building on the work developed to date.”