Effective investment in digital technologies and data is critical for improving public services and institutional efficiency. With government spending on digital and ICT expected to grow annually by 8.4% between 2024-2027, governments must ensure these investments are managed well to maximise value and avoid inefficiencies. Applying agile investment strategies, balancing internal capabilities with strategic partnerships, and aligning budgeting with modern digital needs are essential for success. The OECD’s Digital Government Investment Framework offers guidance for strengthening governance, managing risks, and promoting result-oriented investments. Together, these elements demonstrate an integrated, whole-of-government approach to ensure an effective management of digital investments in governments.
Putting this into practice, the Australian Government’s Digital and ICT Investment Oversight Framework (IOF) provides the backbone for its Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) to support the Government in managing its digital and ICT-enabled investments in line with the objectives set in the Data and Digital Government Strategy 2023-2030.
Introduced in 2022, the IOF aims to provide a robust and integrated whole-of-government approach to managing digital government investments based on an end-to-end framework across the entire project lifecycle - from early planning through to project delivery and realisation of planned benefits Since its introduction, the IOF has developed iteratively to respond to the evolving needs of the Australian Government and public administration to strengthen decision making and improve the successful delivery of digital and ICT projects.
The Australian Government, through the DTA, has asked the OECD to assess progress and formulate policy recommendations to strengthen the IOF after three years of implementation. The purpose of this review is to understand the IOF’s strengths and identify opportunities for it to evolve to ensure that it remains relevant and continues to support the Australian Government’s digital transformation.
This OECD Digital Government Scan of Australia therefore applies the OECD’s Digital Government Investment Framework to assess the Australian Government’s maturity across the states of the IOF under the three pillars of the Framework: strategic planning, coherent implementation, and comprehensive monitoring and oversight. The OECD therefore considered the elements required for each of these pillars based on Australia’s performance on digital government investments from the 2023 OECD Digital Government Index, as well as the evidence and good practices from 33 Member and 5 partner countries. This was further informed by a survey of internal stakeholders within the DTA that interact with the IOF and undertook fact-finding interviews with both internal and external stakeholders from the federal administration as well as desk research.
The Scan also builds on longstanding OECD work on digital government, including the provisions of the OECD Recommendation of the Council on Digital Government Strategies.