Credit: IBM
IBM has scored a $15 million contract to set up and deploy infrastructure for Services Australia’s new payment utility platform.
The agency, formerly known as the Department of Human Services, has tasked Big Blue with designing and building the platform, which aims to streamline sending and receiving payments.
The three-year contract includes hardware, software, and services to design, build, install and support the solution.
The appointment comes as part of the federal government’s transition to its New Payment Platform, which first went live in November 2017 and formally launched publicly in early 2018.
Centrelink was one of the services moved onto the platform, with the department claiming it now allowed recipients to claim welfare payments instantly.
Once deployed, the platform will be used to process payments between government and third parties, including customers, across services such as Centrelink, child support and Medicare.
According to a Services Australia spokesperson, the platform allows it and other government bodies “to link in with the New Payment Platform to make same-day payments, and provide recipients with more detailed transaction information”.
