Bulldozing bureaucracy for a connected public sector

When it comes to better serving Australians, complexity is a common hurdle in the public sector, writes Nathan Gower.

Nathan Gower

Siloed agencies, roadblocks in accessing information, and broad-ranging state and federal legislature create frequent headaches for public servants and citizens alike.

Take the latest example of the federal government’s plan to reopen international travel with the QR-code vaccine certificates. Development hit roadblocks when missing links prevented Services Australia, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and the Department of Health from securely sharing medical data.

Meanwhile, in NSW, the rollout of the Service NSW proof of vaccination function was held up by the federal Australian Immunisation Register’s ability to share COVID-19 vaccination status data.

Uncertainty has extended to our visa holders, too. Ineligible for Medicare, many temporary visa holders have experienced issues retrieving  federal immunisation data. Without it being integrated into the various states’ vaccination certificate frameworks, people have struggled to prove their double-vaccinated position.

Lack of clear data sharing policy

While there have been efforts to make more data available across all jurisdictions – including the intergovernmental agreement by federal, state and territory leaders to share data as a default position – no inherent level of data sharing for policy development and service delivery will be effectively achieved on a fragmented Australian Public Service (APS).

It shouldn’t feel like forcing water to flow uphill. Meeting citizen expectations and operating more efficiently demands more than just deploying new apps and digital services, as useful as they can be. We need a more coordinated public sector, and connecting data is the key.

Meeting citizen expectations and operating more efficiently demands more than just deploying new apps and digital services.

However, my conversations with public sector leaders indicate it’s the historic waterfall methodology the government takes toward procurement that inhibits true digital transformation and achieving a synchronised government. 

Typically, project teams measure their success against an initial proposal, and this approach sees agendas unravel. When the initiative gets to the point of spreading its wings, the project is clipped because the outcomes are no longer relevant to the market.

The needle shifts and the project’s rigidity fails to meet tomorrow’s community needs. 

Hacking bureacracy

A trailblazer of bulldozing the red tape, Estonian Government CIO, Siim Sikkut, says the rapid and successful deployment of e-government in the small Baltic nation has often involved “hacking” bureaucracy. 

To make government machinery run another way, and deliver real outcomes for the community, the trick is to set up an innovation department that accepts the strategy of “failing fast.”

In fact, Australia’s Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) delivered a taskforce recommendation in 2017 for the development and implementation of a new whole-of-government ICT procurement framework, which iterated failing fast for innovation.

Becoming one of the top three digital governments in the world by 2025 – one of the DTA’s goals – cannot be accomplished on archaic infrastructure, let alone waterfall methodologies of procurement. Moreover, the desire to deliver real and substantive innovation often sees government agencies gravitate toward complex and wide-ranging transformational programs that span across multi-discipline teams and partners.

With a digital central nervous system that connects the public sector’s many limbs, the APS will be positioned to .. deliver an e-government where citizens reap the benefits.

In one example, EPA Victoria was an agency that went against the grain. The state’s environmental regulator worked with several smaller, more agile firms to overhaul its legacy processes and unlock its data.

With information aggregated from a number of third-party organisations, as well as Internet of Things (IoT) devices such as sensors, drones and satellites, EPA Victoria is better serving its aim to reduce harm from pollution and waste with 360-degree visibility to plan, protect and cope when issues arise.

Connectedness is key

Connectedness is key to delivering better outcomes for Australians. With a digital central nervous system that connects the public sector’s many limbs, the APS will be positioned to not only polish its data sharing laws but deliver an e-government where citizens reap the benefits.

With access to accurate data and the ability to put it into context quickly, policy makers, central and frontline agencies are better equipped to deliver improved outcomes for Australians, but this will require some heavy lifting.

As the government eyes continued digital investment to underscore its objectives, the shift to e-government cannot be treated as a single outcome or a box to be ticked, but a constant evolution of improvement. The all-important intention to accelerate the coordination of the APS will need to be supported by a framework capable of joining the dots.

*Nathan Gower is Managing Director Australia and New Zealand at Boomi, a technology and data integration company.

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