Digital Transformation Agency Explained

Digital Transformation Agency
Type:	agency
Preceding1:	Digital Transformation Office
Jurisdiction:	Australian Government
Headquarters:	Canberra, Australian Capital Territory^[1]
Coordinates:	-35.2772°N 149.1224°W
Employees:	214 (at 30 June 2022)
Budget:	AUD$76.24 million (2022–23)
Minister1 Name:	Katy Gallagher
Minister1 Pfo:	Minister for Finance, Minister for Women and Minister for the Public Service
Chief1 Name:	Chris Fechner
Chief1 Position:	Chief Executive Officer
Parent Department:	Department of Finance

The Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) is an executive agency within the Australian Government’s Finance portfolio which supports the digital transformation of government services. Since 1 July 2022 it has done this by:

• providing strategic leadership on whole-of-government and shared digital services (including sourcing and capability development)
• delivering policies, standards and platforms for whole-of-government and shared digital service delivery
• providing advice to agencies and the government on digital investment proposals
• overseeing significant digital investments, assurance policy and framework, and the whole-of-government digital portfolio.^[2]

Commonwealth Digital and ICT Investment Oversight Framework

In overseeing the Australian Government’s large digital investment portfolio, the DTA operates under the Commonwealth Digital and ICT Investment Oversight Framework. The six states of this Investment Oversight Framework enable the effective management of the Commonwealth’s digital investments across the project lifecycle.^[3]

• Strategic planning – advising, implementing and evaluating the government’s digital strategic direction to ensure the best possible digital services and outcomes.^[4]
• Prioritisation – prioritising, planning and advising on the short, medium and longer-term pipeline of government agency digital investments proposals.^[5]
• Contestability – making sure investment proposals considered by Cabinet are robust, meet required standards and align with relevant government digital policies.^[6]
• Assurance – providing assurance to government that funded digital projects are on track to deliver expected benefits.^[7]
• Digital sourcing – delivering value-for-money arrangements to simplify government procurement of digital products (including single-seller arrangements, panels/marketplaces and BuyICT.com.au).^[8]
• Operation – regularly collecting data on digital projects, as well as digital business-as-usual arrangements to garner information on the size, health and maturity of the government’s investment portfolio (including emerging technology, reuse and shared capabilities, and workforce considerations).^[9]

The Australian Government Architecture – a key part of the Investment Oversight Framework – consists of strategies, policies, standards and designs that encourage standardisation, reuse of technologies and platforms, and effective design of, and investment, in modern digital capabilities across government.^[10]

History

The DTA’s predecessor is the Digital Transformation Office, which was formed on 23 January 2015.^[11] The Office was in charge of digitising and managing various government services.^[12] It was primarily responsible for managing the myGov website and app.^[13] On 14 October 2016 it was renamed the Digital Transformation Agency.^[14]

The DTA has been responsible for the management and maintenance of several different whole-of-government platforms, including:

• myGov^[15]
• Coronavirus Australia
• COVIDSafe
• australia.gov.au

External links

Official

• Digital Transformation Agency: Official website

Notes and References

1. Web site: 4 June 2020. Digital Transformation Agency. live. 1 November 2020. Australian Government Directory. https://web.archive.org/web/20200503161043/https://www.directory.gov.au/portfolios/social-services/digital-transformation-agency . 3 May 2020 .
2. Web site: Order to identify the Minister responsible for the Digital Transformation Agency, and to Specify Functions for the Digital Transformation Agency . 12 April 2023 . Federal Register of Legislation.
3. Web site: Digital and ICT Investment Oversight Framework . 12 April 2023 . Digital Transformation Agency.
4. Web site: Strategic Planning . 12 April 2023 . Digital Transformation Agency.
5. Web site: Prioritisation . 12 April 2023 . Digital Transformation Agency.
6. Web site: Contestability . 12 April 2023 . Digital Transformation Agency.
7. Web site: Assurance . 12 April 2023 . Digital Transformation Agency.
8. Web site: Sourcing . 12 April 2023 . Digital Transformation Agency.
9. Web site: Operations . 12 April 2023 . Digital Transformation Agency.
10. Web site: Australian Government Architecture . 12 April 2023 . Digital Transformation Agency.
11. Abbott. Tony. 2015-01-23. Establishment of a Digital Transformation Office. Canberra, Australia. PM&C. 2020-05-04.
12. Web site: Digital Transformation Office established by Communications Dept. 2015-01-23. The Mandarin. en-US. 2020-05-04.
13. Web site: Annual Report 2016–17: 2. Agency performance. Agency. Digital Transformation. 2018-09-13. www.dta.gov.au. en. live. 2020-05-04. https://web.archive.org/web/20190322062707/https://www.dta.gov.au/about-us/reporting-and-plans/annual-reports/annual-report-2016-17/annual-report-2016-17-2-agency-performance . 22 March 2019 .
14. Web site: Canberra creates Digital Transformation Agency from DTO. Barbaschow. Asha. ZDNet. en. live. 2020-05-04. https://web.archive.org/web/20161016010955/http://www.zdnet.com:80/article/canberra-creates-digital-transformation-agency-from-dto/ . 16 October 2016 .
15. Web site: myGov set for Facebook-like overhaul . 2020-05-04 . iTnews.