Since the start of the year 2018, the Australian Digital Health Agency has requisitioned $1.04 million in service credits from Accenture, the external operator overseeing the infrastructure of My Health Record.
Within a documented audit [pdf] of Accenture’s long-term commitment to “operation, maintenance, support and integration of My Health Record national infrastructure,” the particulars of service level agreements are provided.
The contracted partnership with Accenture commenced in 2012, with multiple adjustments and extensions elevating the contract’s value to $746 million until the conclusion of 2025 – rendering it the most substantial IT vendor agreement associated with My Health Record provision.
Although much of the scrutiny revolves around procurement, it showcases that in 2016-17, the agency concurred to prepay Accenture for services, in exchange for “discounted fees” and a “service level commitment of 99.9 percent system uptime (as opposed to an earlier 99.5 percent agreement).”
The auditor highlighted, “The amendment permitted fees to be invoiced subsequently but with a regression to the prior service level of 99.5 percent.”.
When the prepayment method raised concerns internally in 2023, the rationale was once again partially founded on Accenture’s commitment to “heightened system dependability.”
The federal government auditor questioned the strategy again, flagging that “prepayment introduces the potential for reduced leverage in compelling performance adherence.”
In response, information regarding the remedies accessible for infrastructural service lapses on Accenture’s part was disclosed.
ADHA holds the authority to claim service credits amounting to “up to 12 percent of monthly maintenance dues.”
There exist 23 service level classifications – albeit not all listed in the audit – but no more than one-fifth of the claimed service credits can be linked to a singular category.
Since January 2018, ADHA has asserted all pertinent service credits for infractions in performance, explained the auditor.
“Service credits have been requested on 25 occasions, accumulating to $1.04 million until December 2023,” as per the document.
Dispute over IT architecture documentation
Further, the audit elucidates a disagreement spanning three and a half years between ADHA and Accenture regarding “a petition for updated My Health Record system architecture” documentation.
The documentation was supposed to “enable other potential vendors aside from Accenture to grasp and present feasible replies to a market approach and to administer the My Health Record system on behalf of the agency.”.
Contemplation of insourcing or switching outsourced partners occurred multiple times.
However, at least once, this was obstructed by the absence of updated IT documentation.
Payments to Accenture were detained during this discord; nonetheless, within the same timeframe, Accenture also received a three-year extension up to the middle of 2025 through a “restricted direct sourcing process.”
Such “non-open strategies” for procurement have been scrutinized in audits previously.
The auditor has urged for a competitive market assessment of the Accenture contract before its expiration.
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