Julian Bajkowski

A resurgence of popular interest in Australia’s military history and especially the tragic icon of the Gallipoli campaign may bring thousands of war veterans and young patriots to Turkey each year, but there’s a catch.

Such is the mass popularity of the pilgrimage that the government has been forced to call for commercial service providers to manage ballot and ticketing services for the event as it seeks to keep what the sombre memorial event dignified.

The Department of Veteran’s Affairs this week issued a formal request for tender for the provision of the ballot and ticketing, a clear sign of the pressure that the growing popularity of the Gallipoli commemoration event is bringing.

The documents state that services are to be ready commence in 2015.

Ballots are a mechanism commonly used by sports, event and festival promoters as a way of more fairly distributing tickets and passes when demand far outstrips supply.

The ballot mechanism – essentially where names are drawn out of a hat   is also a useful safeguard against scalpers who ruthlessly exploit the strong demand for tickets to events and grossly inflate the price of tickets they resell.

One issue that requires careful and sensitive management issue is ensuring that veterans and their relatives can still gain access the Gallipoli event when attendance numbers have to be limited.

A big logistical challenge for those tasked with running the Gallipoli ANZAC day event is that they have to manage issues across not only Australia but also New Zealand and Turkey.

The DVA tender has specifically asks to see “options for, and development and supply of, tickets with in-built security mechanisms to prevent replication or scalping, and can be verified for authenticity at the entry point, including, but not limited to mobile ticket delivery, hard, plastic or souvenir tickets.”

The veteran’s department also wants to see “state of the art ticketing and entry/access control systems and equipment that are currently available and can be utilised by the agent in Turkey, in an outdoor environment, that will complement or be additional to existing entrance and security infrastructure supplied by the Anzac Day services provider.

A key question prospective suppliers will need to answer is whether an existing system can be adapted and the capacity of a system to cope with high volumes of individual registrations online.

There is also a requirement to state how the “security and storage of data and personal details of ballot registrants, including compliance with applicable legislation” will be handled by bidders.

The tender closes on 3rd July 2013