Microsoft/Accenture Biggest Winners In ATO Contracts

by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong

03 September 2003

According to departmental documents, Microsoft and Accenture have been revealed as the biggest winners in the contract to supply the Australian Tax Office with its latest technology upgrade, it has emerged from reports this week.

For the three years from October 2002 to September 2005, the documents detail that Microsoft increased its enterprise licensing agreement by some 10%, from $29.1 million to $32.5 million. The Seattle based Software giant will receive an additional $12.8 million under the Business Advantage Service contract over the same period of time, under which it has provided 12 specialist developers to the ATO to assist with ongoing .NET based developments.

Meanwhile, the documents have declared that contracts worth around $15.7 million have been agreed between the ATO and Accenture, which is involved in the development of Microsoft's .NET application and other projects including the Australian Business Register.

However, it has been noted by industry news service Australian IT that a further $4.6 million worth of contracts between the ATO and Microsoft have not been included in the official documentation despite the contracts being declared active in response to a question tabled by opposition MP Kate Lundy last year. Nor is an ongoing contract with American IT firm EDS listed in the documentation according to Australian IT, ommissions that ATO officials have apparently declined to comment on.

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