The Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) has set up an email hotline for technology providers who have difficulties dealing with the Federal Government.

Speaking to industry at the National Press Club on 10 November, Assistant Minister for Digital Transformation Angus Taylor said the DTA has a strong focus on engaging with businesses.

“We are constantly looking for ways to deliver benefits more quickly and effectively. We have made it clear how important the partnership with industry is for us. We have to be porous.”

Mr Taylor said he would aggressively seek solutions for problems faced by businesses. “If the industry uses this service well, it can be incredibly powerful.”

The email address is confidentialprocurement@dta.gov.au

“We have to make government more porous.”

There’s that ‘porous’ word again. It means something through which liquid or air may pass, as opposed to the more widely used ‘transparent’, which is something that lets light through. We assume he means much the same thing, and that a porous government is one that listens to people.

“We have to make those relationships with industry stronger, not just in IT, but right across government.

“That is why we have established a confidential email inbox for industry to highlight barriers to procurement, innovation and delivery. They will be seen by my office, and by the DTA.

“It is your chance to say when things aren’t going as well as they should. We need that feedback. I will personally review every one of those emails.”

In his talk at the Press Club Mr Taylor also reviewed major government ICT projects and reforms to ICT procurement and investment, and developments in digital identity management for the myGov service.

“In the last 12 months we have delivered an ICT procurement reform agenda. We have reviewed the entire ICT project estate three times. We have reviewed around 20 new projects at the pre-investment stage that has saved nearly $3 billion in projected costs.

“We have made major steps in addressing the problems we had with myGov, and we have delivered a vision for a modern digital identity system.”

MyGov, the Federal Government’s digital identification system, has been beset with delays and technical problems. It does seem to be improving, perhaps because it is more porous.

“When I first entered the job, myGov was not where we wanted it to be and to be honest the relationship with the old DTO  was not where I wanted it to be either.”

Of course, at the time we were told everything was going well. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. (The DTO was the Digital Transformation Office, which was replaced by the DTA last year).

“But over the intervening period a process of heavy engagement between ministers, senior executives and delivery teams has given us some stunning results.

“It wasn’t always easy and we had some robust debates along the way – but we have been working together towards a common goal in a way that hasn’t happened in the past.”

“By focusing on the user, we were able to increase MyGov usage by 100,000 logins a day and maintain its availability at 100 percent at crucial times. It now has a successful log on statistic of over 97 percent, in line with well performing banks.”

Mr Taylor outlined the Government’s vision for MyGov.

“The myGov of today is not the myGov of tomorrow. It will evolve to be both a respected brand and critical enabler to the common platforms across government, across governance and ultimately across the economy that will underpin our modern digital experience.

“Look at the great Internet success stories. All of them have created an environment where your identity is key and they offer a smooth user friendly experience. My favourite example for this is PayPal.

“Millions of people use PayPal every day to prove their identity and make a payment. And the vast majority of them never navigate to the PayPal site. It is merely part of an automated user journey from the online shopping site that they know.

“A federated, enabling view of identity is the right view and it’s what we are delivering.”

And it’s porous!