Copyright abc
Documents have revealed the true cost of the Bureau of Meteorology's (BOM) new website could be significantly higher than first thought. The BOM has been in damage control since the launch of a new redesigned website on October 22 caused widespread outrage. It tweaked its radar colour scheme late last week and has revealed further changes to the new site will be unveiled in coming weeks. Nearly a week after the new site went live, a BOM spokesperson said the new website interface cost $4.1 million. But a search of Australian government tender documents show that figure might just be the tip of the iceberg. $78m website software contract The ABC understands the government awarded business management company Accenture Australia a $78 million contract to develop the BOM's new website's Content Management System (CMS). That CMS typically includes all the software and digital infrastructure needed to make the website work. The contract, which was scheduled to run between August 2019 and 2027, was initially valued at $31.3 million. It is now listed on AusTender, the government's tenders and contracts website, as being valued at $78 million. The ABC understands additional contractors were assigned to work side-by side with Accenture staff on the website's development. With double the staff working on the website creation, the content management cost has been estimated by sources close to the matter to potentially cost as much as $150 million. Other government tenders were awarded for BOM-related IT projects relating to cloud programs and securing the communication of international data. They are valued at around $30 million each, however it is not clear if they are related to the website's redesign. Minister questioned Reporting by the Saturday Paper and The Guardian also detail the tens of millions of dollars spent to develop the new BOM website. On Sunday, ABC Insiders host David Speers asked Federal Environment Minister, Murray Watt, if the website upgrade was taxpayers' money well spent. Minister Watt avoided the question, describing the BOM as a "great Australian institution". "I'm very pleased that the BOM has listened to community feedback. I know they've got plans to make more changes. "That's what we want, but we also want a really credible, reliable service as well." The ABC has requested clarity from the Bureau regarding the true cost of the website's creation, including both front and back-end work. The BOM has yet to respond to these requests. Speaking on the Victorian Country Hour on Monday, the BOM's general manager of environmental prediction services, Matt Collopy said the $4.1m was correct. Mr Collopy said the additional figures reported by the ABC and other media are "not accurate in terms of the cost of designing this new website". The BOM's new website was part of a much larger program to make the agency more resilient and secure. That IT transformation program, called Robust, ran for seven years at a cost of $866 million. It was funded by the federal government after a cyber attack and outages in 2015 and 2016.
