ChooseCBR website to be pressure tested before site relaunch

It comes at the ACT's opposition has demanded an explanation as to how the scheme is being monitored to ensure all purchases are genuine.

The scheme, which offers ACT government subsidised discounts of up to 50 per cent has been riddled with issues.

The ACT government was forced to pull the site last Thursday, after the system's database could not handle high volumes of people visiting the site.

Initially, the government had planned to shut the site only for Thursday night but a solution could not be found.

The government has planned to reopen the site this Friday but that will depend on test results.

"A solution is being implemented and tested in an environment that exceeds the demand we saw during the first 36 hours," an ACT government spokeswoman said.

The testing comes after work was undertaken on the weekend to improve the system's database to increase its ability to deal with high volumes.

More than 77,000 customers had signed up to the scheme and close to 800 businesses. More than 80 businesses are being reimbursed for vouchers they could not claim last week.

The ACT government's rebooted discount voucher scheme went live last week. The government had allocated $2 million worth of vouchers to the scheme that could be redeemed at small Canberra businesses.

Businesses had to opt-in to the scheme but were only eligible if they had a physical presence in the ACT and had less than $10 million in annual turnover.

The scheme was introduced after a three-week trial last December but that trial faced extensive criticism over a lack of awareness of the vouchers with only a fraction of the vouchers spent.

But the rebooted scheme had the opposite issue, with $389,000 of vouchers claimed in the first two days - only $310,000 was spent in the three-week December trial.

However, questions have been raised as to how that amount was spent considering the site was down for a large portion of its first two days.

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Opposition business spokeswoman Leanne Castley said she had raised concerns with Business Minister Tara Cheyne.

"Serious questions remain for the minister including how the government is monitoring the scheme to ensure people do the right thing," Ms Castley said.

"I raised this concerns with the minister's office before the scheme began; how can the government guarantee vouchers will not be misused and the money is going where it is meant to go?"

An audit process is part of the scheme's design and redemption patterns are monitored.

The ACT government spokeswoman said no irregular patterns had been identified at this stage.

"As part of the audit function routine checks are conducted where businesses may be asked to provide proof of transactions," she said. "This did happen last week and will continue when the system is in operation again.

"The audit process has not indicated any misuse at this point."

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