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waste Department of Home Affairs
$24.3M

Home Affairs' IT contractor bill blew up 135% — $18 million became $42 million, no rebid

A temporary IT staffing contract at Home Affairs was budgeted at $18 million. The final cost: $42.3 million. That's 135% over budget, awarded to Infosys BPO through limited tender — meaning no other firm got a chance to bid. An extra $24 million of your taxes, no competitive process, no accountability.

On Their Watch
CO
Clare O'Neil
This happened on O'Neil's watch as Home Affairs Minister, June 2022–Feb 2023. Minister when ANAO reported the 135% blowout
KA
Karen Andrews
This happened on Andrews's watch as Home Affairs Minister, Mar 2021–May 2022. Contract awarded and expanded under Andrews 2021–2022

What This Means

$24.3M of Australian taxpayer money was wasted at Department of Home Affairs. A temporary IT staffing contract at Home Affairs was budgeted at $18 million. The final cost: $42.3 million. That's 135% over budget, awarded to Infosys BPO through limited tender — meaning no other firm got a chance to bid. An extra $24 million of your taxes, no competitive process, no accountability.

Spread across Australia's 10.8 million households, that's roughly $2 per family — enough in total for covering the university fees of 810 students.

  • The Department of Home Affairs awarded a contract for temporary ICT staff that grew from $18 million to $42.3 million — more than doubling in value.
  • The contract was awarded through limited tender, bypassing competitive processes.
  • The scope covers project managers, business analysts, developers and testers for a two-year period.
Amount Spent
$42,300,000
Original Estimate
$18,000,000
Waste / Overrun
$24,300,000
Cost Overrun
135%

Analysis

The Department of Home Affairs awarded a contract for temporary ICT staff that grew from $18 million to $42.3 million — more than doubling in value. The contract was awarded through limited tender, bypassing competitive processes. The scope covers project managers, business analysts, developers and testers for a two-year period. The 135% cost blowout suggests either the original scope was inadequate or the contract was used as a vehicle for ongoing staffing beyond its original intent.

Sources

https://www.tenders.gov.au/Cn/Show/CN3978456
Category: waste
Severity: high
Agency: Department of Home Affairs

What Needs to Change

Action Required

Recover oversight of Home Affairs ICT procurement and prevent contract value doubling through scope creep.

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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 94 times
📰 Media coverage
🏛️ MP contacted / responded 1 MPs contacted
Parliamentary question raised
⚖️ Policy change initiated
💰 Estimated annual savings if fixed $15.0M/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