After scrapping its AU$92 million processing system, a tender has been published for the new Commonwealth-wide permissions capability that will focus initially on the simple visa type.
The federal government has this week gone to market to find a provider to help build its new permissions capability architecture, which it expects to use for delivering Commonwealth digital services that require permissions. While the plan for the new platform is for it to be used across a range of government applications, the request for tender (RFT) is focusing on the first use case: Visas. « The Department needs to be able to facilitate international travel and the gradual reopening of our borders, while also ensuring that it has the necessary defensive layers to safeguard against new infections being introduced through the travelling public, » the RFT says. « Digital information to aid contact tracing operations is required in real time. Based on this, the Department has determined that a digital passenger declaration and simple visa type should be the first use cases to support this outcome. » Next on the list is the digital passenger declaration. The RFT states this needs to be capable of « anchoring identity through collection and use of biometrics » and must enhance the capability of border and health officials to support « targeted risk-based interventions and stream passenger flows through airports and quarantine ». See also: Australian government is currently juggling 62 high-cost IT projects The final phase of the initial capability is for a « simple visa type ». « The simple visa type will allow the permissions capability to be tested while other broader and more complex use cases (including additional visas) can be considered, » the RFT says. The government hopes to have the first work order for the capability ready by March, with the permissions capability « live delivery » pencilled in for June. It also hopes the digital passenger declaration will be ready in the third quarter of 2021, and the simple visa capability will be ready in the fourth quarter.
