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waste Australian Public Service Commission
$7.9M

Deloitte built a public service analytics tool for $12.7 million — three times the budget, zero competition

The Australian Public Service Commission directly hired Deloitte to build a workforce analytics platform — no competitive tender. Budget: $4.8 million. Final cost: $12.7 million — a 165% blowout. The platform analyses public service workforce data. The APS's own people had the data and the expertise. Deloitte got the $12.7 million anyway.

On Their Watch
KG
Katy Gallagher
This happened on Gallagher's watch as Public Service Minister, June 2022–present. APSC reports to the Minister for the Public Service; contract tripled on her watch

What This Means

$7.9M of Australian taxpayer money was wasted at Australian Public Service Commission. The Australian Public Service Commission directly hired Deloitte to build a workforce analytics platform — no competitive tender. Budget: $4.8 million. Final cost: $12.7 million — a 165% blowout. The platform analyses public service workforce data. The APS's own people had the data and the expertise. Deloitte got the $12.7 million anyway.

Spread across Australia's 10.8 million households, that's roughly $1 per family — enough in total for covering the yearly wages of 105 public servants.

  • The Australian Public Service Commission engaged Deloitte to build a workforce analytics and reporting platform through direct sourcing — bypassing competitive tendering entirely.
  • The project cost ballooned from $4.8 million to $12.7 million, a 165% increase.
  • For a data analytics platform, these costs are significantly above market rates, particularly given the 18-month delivery timeline.
Amount Spent
$12,700,000
Original Estimate
$4,800,000
Waste / Overrun
$7,900,000
Cost Overrun
165%

Analysis

The Australian Public Service Commission engaged Deloitte to build a workforce analytics and reporting platform through direct sourcing — bypassing competitive tendering entirely. The project cost ballooned from $4.8 million to $12.7 million, a 165% increase. For a data analytics platform, these costs are significantly above market rates, particularly given the 18-month delivery timeline. The direct source procurement method means the APSC did not test whether other firms could deliver equivalent capability at lower cost.

Sources

https://www.tenders.gov.au/Cn/Show/CN3956123
Category: waste
Severity: medium
Agency: Australian Public Service Commission

What Needs to Change

Action Required

Expose the pattern of small agencies paying Big Four rates for commodity data analytics platforms.

Fund Action Campaign
Deloitte built a public service analytics tool for $12.7 ...
$2K
of $15K target
12% funded
14 Australians have funded this
$13K still needed

$15,000 funds a review request to the ANAO and a parliamentary question brief on APS data platform procurement practices.

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Impact Scorecard

Updated 30 Apr 2026

Tracking the pressure trail — from publication to policy change. Empty boxes show what's left to do.

📄 Finding published Published 2026-04-30
🔗 Shared 67 times
📰 Media coverage
🏛️ MP contacted / responded
Parliamentary question raised
⚖️ Policy change initiated
💰 Estimated annual savings if fixed $8.0M/year if fixed
Complete In progress Not yet
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The Full Reckoning

3 active investigations. 15 completed. 0 in the queue.

Rank Finding Amount Status
1 $7.8 billion of your taxes paid to consultants who left nothing behind $7.8B Active
2 $3.3 billion in dodgy NDIS claims slipped through because nobody was watching $3.3B Active
3 CIMIC Donated $540K to Labor, Liberal and Nationals — Collected $3.1B in Government Construction, 41% Without Open Tender $3.1B Active
4 Thales Australia Donated $195K to Labor and Liberal — Landed $2.2B in Defence Contracts Through Restricted Tender $2.2B Investigated
5 $2.1 billion in government contracts handed out without competition — no bids, no questions $2.1B Investigated
6 Defence blew $1.8 billion over budget on IT projects — and they still don't work properly $1.8B Investigated
7 Ministers overruled their own experts to hand $1.2 billion to whoever they wanted $1.2B Investigated
8 The aged care regulator spent $890 million and can't show it made a single nursing home safer $890.0M Investigated
9 PwC Donated $270K to Labor and Liberal — Then Bagged $700M in Advisory Contracts, Including Confidential Tax Reform Work $697.4M Investigated
10 $719M in community grants flowed to coalition marginal seats at more than double the rate of safe seats $290.0M Investigated
11 Three major charities quietly took 57% of a $402M fund meant for small Indigenous community organisations $80.6M Investigated
12 Services Australia's IT modernisation with Accenture blew $75 million over budget $75.5M Investigated
13 The Australian National University got $175M from a research grants program that chose recipients without competitive bids $29.8M Investigated
14 Home Affairs' IT contractor bill blew up 135% — $18 million became $42 million, no rebid $24.3M Investigated
15 PricewaterhouseCoopers charged Defence $54 million for HR consulting — $22 million more than agreed, no rebid $22.2M Investigated
16 The Bureau of Meteorology's AWS migration cost $22 million more than planned — and nobody shopped around $22.0M Investigated
17 Deloitte built a public service analytics tool for $12.7 million — three times the budget, zero competition $7.9M Investigated
18 Ernst & Young charged double to evaluate an Indigenous health program — hired directly, no competition $4.7M Investigated
$23.6B total waste identified — and counting $23.6B