A series of delays and a budget blowout reaching $35 million has thrown the national crime intelligence commission's project to replace its fingerprint database into disarray, as it approaches a June deadline having little to show for a contract with international tech giant NEC.
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In the latest IT headache to hit the government, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission is scrambling to salvage the program after bosses were told it would not be finished on time and that the project posed a high risk to the agency.
A report from consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers, seen by Fairfax Media, said the project's cost had nearly doubled by November to $94.6 million despite Finance Department approval for $52 million in spending.
ACIC hoped the new database, to be used by police to identify criminals and solve crimes, would include facial recognition technology but eight months from its deadline it remained untested and far behind schedule following what PwC called a "systemic pattern of delay".
"The project has been highly challenged to date, and presents a high risk to the ACIC," PwC said in the November report.
"There is low confidence in likelihood of delivery which requires focus to achieve turnaround."
The crime intelligence agency is trying to stem a project failure after a trail of controversies shredded the broader Australian Public Service's reputation for IT, with the census debacle, the crash of the Tax Office's online systems and Centrelink's robo-debt saga culminating in a Senate inquiry into the government's multibillion dollar tech spend.
To cut costs and steady the project for a new biometric database, ACIC may need to reduce its scope and consider saving $8.4 million by dumping facial recognition from the new service, which it will also share with immigration officials.
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The PwC report, which was awaiting ACIC's acceptance, said the commission would also need to negotiate a new schedule with NEC, extend its contract with another company providing its older fingerprint database, and pour staff into the faltering upgrade.
ACIC bosses met with NEC last January after the agency found schedules were not met in December 2016, only eight months after the Japan-based multinational won the contract to provide the technology.
By April last year a sign-off for a design was four months late, and by August 2017 PwC was reviewing the project after it became clear costs would run significantly over-budget.
The crime intelligence commission could have to spend millions of dollars extending its older fingerprint service by another 12 months after May, as PwC said it could not depend on NEC having its replacement ready even by November 2018.
Poor communication, operational silos, limited collaboration and a failure to estimate the project's complexity had blown it off-track and left ACIC without a replacement for its older database.
PwC also laid blame for the government's latest tech woes on inconsistent project management, unclear roles, insufficient resources and a lack of capability in ACIC and NEC, saying a series of changes had led to a $35.3 million budget blowout.
It warned the commission that abandoning the upgrade would damage its reputation.
ACIC's older database is heavily used and was accessed in 1.48 million searches last year.
NEC declined to comment, however ACIC chief executive Michael Phelan said the agency was committed to "good project governance" and commissioned the review recognising "the changing environment" for the upgrade program.
The review was independent and the commission's board was considering its recommendations, Mr Phelan said.
"The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission is working collaboratively with NEC to deliver BIS to support our law enforcement partners to prevent, detect and reduce crime in our communities," he said.
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