DPC and SV have delivered a technology solution that is repeatable and reusable. However, DPC's implementation of SV did not focus on the delivery of financial benefits. This lack of focus, along with poor reporting and stakeholder management by DPC and SV, has resulted in lower-than-expected delivery of benefits.
SV has delivered good customer satisfaction results for the limited services it offers. However, it has realised only a small proportion of the benefits expected in the Reform Program business case.
In 2019–20, SV achieved transactional benefits of $6 million—well below the $53 million per year that the Reform Program business case predicted. It has also not achieved measurable improvement of people following government regulations and policy, as SV is only conducting about 1 per cent of government transactions.
Population growth and changing consumer expectations are placing increasing pressure on the cost, timeliness and quality of government services. Digitising transactions can help to address this.
The Victorian Government launched SV in 2015 to transform the way that government agencies deliver transactions to citizens, improve customer satisfaction, and reduce costs.
FIGURE D1: Variations to the DPC-MWC Inc contract
In June 2020, the Auditor-General received a referral that included allegations that:
Two media articles also reported the allegations during June 2020.
| Acronyms | |
|---|---|
| DPC | Department of Premier and Cabinet |
| MWC Inc | Migrant Workers Centre Incorporated |
| VAGO | Victorian Auditor-General's Office |
| VTHC | Victorian Trades Hall Council |
We have consulted with DPC, MWC Inc and VTHC, and we considered their views when reaching our review conclusions. As required by the Audit Act 1994, we gave a draft copy of this report, or relevant extracts, to those entities and asked for their submissions and comments.
Responsibility for the accuracy, fairness and balance of those comments rests solely with the entity head.
We consulted with the reviewed entities and considered their views when reaching our conclusions. The entities’ full responses are in Appendix A.
We asked VTHC about the allegations that:
VTHC advised us that:
The 2017–18 Victorian Budget included funding of $2 million over two years to establish a new Migrant Workers Centre in Melbourne to advocate for exploited workers.
In June 2017, the Department of Premier and Cabinet (DPC) engaged a consultant to recommend arrangements for establishing the centre to the then Minister for Multicultural Affairs. The consultant’s report recommended that the centre: