The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has entered the market for a new contractor to provide its digital requirements for Australian’s next Census in 2021.
The Bureau’s General Manager of its Census and Statistical Services Division, Chris Libreri said the search was on for highly experienced suppliers to provide the Census digital service.
“The ABS will work closely with interested suppliers to confirm proposed solutions can deliver high standards of security, reliability and capacity required for the 2021 Census,” Mr Libreri said.
“The need to keep all Census information secure and confidential is, as always, a primary and paramount factor in designing the digital Census.
“The ABS is actively managing risks (including cyber) for the 2021 Census and is engaging independent experts to provide assurance on the solution, including the Digital Transformation Agency and the Australian Cyber Security Centre.”
Mr Libreri said the goal is to design a simple service that would be safe to use for all Australians.
“People who want or need paper forms will also have easy access to them,” he said.
Describing as ‘regrettable’ the 2016 experience in which the online system suffered a power outage, Mr Libreri said those who managed to use the online form found it quick and easy and that it reduced the time taken by households to complete the Census by 70 per cent compared to the paper option.
Chief Information Officer at ABS, Steve Hamilton said the Bureau had a strong preference for the service to be hosted in a cloud environment in line with both the Public Service-wide cloud-first policy and the Digital Transformation Agency’s Secure Cloud Policy.
“We are seeking to provide an engaging and secure service hosted on cost effective and proven cloud infrastructure that delivers the experience, performance and resilience expected by all Australians when transacting online,” Mr Hamilton said.
Tenders are due in October 2018 with an industry briefing to follow and a supplier to be announced mid-2019.
