The Australian Digital Health Agency is seeking bids to provide application support and maintenance (ASM) services for the country's digital health infrastructure.
In its latest request for tender, the agency is looking for a "new and innovative approach to providing application, support, maintenance and product enhancement services for national digital health infrastructure."
WHY IT MATTERS
The work, it said in the request, is "critical to maintaining the reliability, performance and scalability of the existing infrastructure," which also underpins the My Health Record system.
It is also foundational to the agency's ongoing initiatives to deliver a "modern, seamless connected [health] system," which will enable better coordinated care for Australians, collaboration among providers, and information sharing across different settings.
THE LARGER CONTEXT
Industry feedback following a request for information seeking ways to upgrade the maintenance of the country's digital health infrastructure prompted ADHA's search for an ASM service provider.
This also followed last year's report by the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO), which found the ADHA "partly effective" in procuring and managing its National Infrastructure Operator (NIO) contract for the My Health Record system with Accenture. The ICT company has held the contract – now valued at nearly $500 million – since 2012. The state auditor recommended reviewing its risks associated with the contract and making annual updates to its contract management plan.
The open tender for a new ASM service contract was also part of ANAO's recommendations.
However, during this transition to a different ASM service provider, the ADHA decided to retain Accenture's services for another year. Its NIO contract, already renewed three times, was supposed to end in June.
"As ASM services are procured and developed in 2025-26, the continued, secure, reliable operation and maintenance of the My Health Record system will be supported by a transition contract with the incumbent supplier," the ADHA said in a media release.
"This is a critical underpinning as the agency moves towards modernised national digital health infrastructure products and services that, together, provide real-time access to health information for Australians and care teams anytime, anywhere," it explained.
Accenture's extended contract to maintain the My Health Record system is worth A$51.7 million ($34 million).
For this year's budget, the Australian Department of Health, Disability and Ageing set aside $144 million more for My Health Record modernisation.
