Projects under central oversight

The processes described in the last section ensure the Australian Government can closely monitor and report on the performance of all its major digital projects.

This section sets out the projects now under central assurance oversight and changes since the last digital project data release in February 2024.

Central oversight now covers 110 active projects, up by 22, with an additional $6.7 billion in investment

Note: Since February 2024, 32 projects have left central oversight. Of these, 20 have closed, 10 now fall outside the scope for assurance oversight and one has been absorbed by an existing project. One project that was included as active in February 2024 closed prior to this report, however, continued to receive advice and assurance on closure activities, and was reported as active for this purpose.

Since the last report in 2024, 54 projects entered central oversight as part of the IOF, and 32 left. A further 56 projects that reported in 2024 continued under oversight this year.

The number of projects under assurance oversight will continue to change over time as new projects start, projects previously out of scope meet the criteria for inclusion following changes such as additional investment, and other projects close.

Since February 2024, of the 54 projects that have come under assurance oversight:

21 projects were previously funded, either during the 2023–24 Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) or earlier, but only came under central oversight after the last report in February 2024
33 projects were newly funded in the 2024–25 Budget and are being delivered across 25 agencies.

Active projects by tier, budget and average duration

A graphic showing projects by tier, budget and average duration. See the 'image description' below for the full contents.

Diagram headline: “Active projects by tier, budget and average duration”.
The diagram demonstrates the increase in total number and budget of projects under assurance oversight from February 2024 versus February 2025. February 2024 shows 89 active projects worth a total of $6.2 billion with all projects continuing under oversight. February 2025 shows 110 total active projects broken up into 1 paused project, 32 projects that left oversight, 56 projects that are continuing and 54 projects which joined, all worth a total of $12.9 billion.

Most projects coming under central assurance oversight in the past year have been Tier 2 and Tier 3 level investments

New projects entering central oversight
Investment tier Projects		Total budget	Median total budget	Average duration
1 Flagship digital investments	9	$1.3 billion	$154.7 million	3.2 years
2 Strategically significant digital investments	20	$5.7 billion	$58.8 million	3.6 years (see the table note)
3 Significant digital investments	25	$1.4 billion	$24.0 million	2.2 years

Table note: Tier 2 average project duration is affected by 2 outlier projects, each with a duration of 35.0 years. Average duration including these 2 projects is 6.9 years.

Tier 3 projects made up the largest number of additional projects. These projects are usually lower risk and have smaller budgets, with most investing in ‘sustainment’ and ‘product/service enhancement’ rather than establishing wholly new digital capabilities. The increase in Tier 3 investments reflects ongoing efforts to move away from higher-risk large and complex projects to smaller, ‘bite-size’ projects where possible. Evidence suggests these smaller projects generally have a higher rate of success.

Large investments will still be necessary in some cases, and several have been commissioned since the last report. Strong planning and oversight are crucial to ensure new higher-risk investments do not exceed available delivery capacity. Strengthening central oversight, including digital investment planning and prioritisation, is key to balance project loads within capacity and coordinate efforts to expand capabilities of agencies and delivery partners to handle expected growth in digital investment.

Reforms supporting success – planning for the future

From the 2026–27 Budget, Commonwealth agencies will be required to develop digital and ICT investment plans. This will provide a future-focused understanding of the complexities across the government’s digital and ICT landscape and identify future need for investment in digital services.

Digital and ICT investment plans will provide short, medium and long-term views of projects. This will help to balance capacity, instil a culture of strategic digital investment planning focused on the future, improve understanding of criticality and risk, and support long-term ambitions to achieve better digital outcomes for Australians as part of the Data and Digital Government Strategy. The investment plans will also increase visibility of digital investments across agencies, enabling the trial and adoption of new technologies, greater coordination of digital enhancements, and more integrated service delivery across agencies.

The distribution of project by total budget highlights the diversity of projects underway across the Australian Government

The chart shows the distribution of projects by total budget, in order of smallest to largest budget, broken into Tiers 1, 2 and 3.
The smallest project is Tier 3; Waste Exports Licensing and Declaration (WELD), $0.7 million.
The median project is Tier 2; National Measurement Institute (NMI) Digital Transformation Program, $40.1 million.
The case study on page 47, is Tier 2, National Anti-Scam Centre, $80.1 million.
The case study from page 26, is Tier 1, Crack Down on Fraud, $194.3 million.
The chart indicates the range of projects with the largest project being Tier 2; Resourcing Australia’s Prosperity (RAP) Initiative, $3.4 billion.

Tier 2 and Tier 3 projects make up the bulk of all active projects under central assurance oversight

A graph showing active projects by tier, budget and average duration. For the information in this image, see the 'image description' accordion below.

Diagram headline: 'Active projects by tier, budget and average duration'.
Diagram demonstrates active projects by tier, budget and average duration.
20 tier 1 projects have a total budget of $3.8 billon, with an average duration of 4.4 years.
42 tier 2 projects have a total of $7 billion, this is broken up into $3.4 billion for one project, with $3.7 billion spread across the remaining 41 projects and an average duration of 5.1 years.
48 tier 3 projects have a total budget of $2 billion and an average duration of 2.9 years.

Of note, almost half of the total budget of all Tier 2 projects relates to a single, multi-decade investment, valued at $3.4 billion. This outlier project skews the average budget of Tier 2 projects ($167.8 million) and means the median budget of $45.0 million better reflects their typical size.

Flagship digital investments (Tier 1) represent 18.2% of active projects and approximately 29.6% of the total budget. Just over half of all Tier 1 projects are reporting a planned completion date between June 2025 to June 2026. Strong ongoing investment planning and prioritisation within each of these projects will be essential for Senior Responsible Officials to smoothly deliver these projects over the next 12 months.

For all tiers, experience shows that the projects most likely to deliver expected benefits on time and on budget have robust approaches to key project management disciplines including governance, risk, benefits and assurance. Strengthening approaches in these areas is a priority for the DTA in our work overseeing all the digital projects included in this report.

National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA): Preventing disability insurance fraud
At a glance
Making it easier to get it right and harder to get it wrong
ndis.gov.au
Tier 1
Investment
Tranche 1 (2024)
$83.9 million
Tranche 2 (2025)
$110.4 million
Benefits
Improved integrity and security
$200 million in savings
$400 million redirected from dishonest providers
Summary
The Crack Down on Fraud (CDoF) Program is enhancing the NDIA’s capabilities by streamlining processes and improving ICT systems to detect and prevent fraud and non-compliance.
On 18 February 2024, the government announced initial Tranche 1 funding of $83.9 million to strengthen the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and make sure every dollar is going to participants who need it.
The CDoF Program has immediately addressed emerging and high-risk issues identified by the Fraud Fusion Taskforce (FFT) – a partnership between 19 Commonwealth agencies, co-led by the NDIA and Services Australia.
It is improving:
- systems that assess, process and pay over 400,000 NDIS claims per day
- systems that check identities to increase participant safety and privacy
- the my NDIS app and NDIS portals.
In addition, the program is building:
- new ICT systems to connect with other agencies, providers and banks so claims and payments can be done faster with less errors
- a new fraud investigation system that will connect with other enforcement agencies.
Saving millions and enhancing security
The program has quickly improved validating and substantiating payments and enhanced pre-payment integrity, ahead of introducing long-term technical solutions. By 30 June 2024, these improvements had enabled over $200 million in savings from non-compliant claims with a further $400 million forecast to be diverted from dishonest providers to genuine disability supports and services.
The CDoF Program has also enhanced identity integrity and provided a consistent, secure experience for accessing NDIS digital platforms via myGov. In its first year, the program delivered a data lake for fraud detection, an integrity management system for investigations, the first phase of a new API Gateway for easier provider interaction with NDIA and stronger cyber event detection. Where appropriate, strategies included leveraging whole-of-government arrangements and reusing existing solutions.
Helping to transform lives
"The NDIS is absolutely transforming the lives of people with disability. It represents the inclusive spirit of our Australian community. The system uplifts being delivered by the talented teams in the CDoF Program will ‘make it easier to get it right and harder to get it wrong’, thus protecting NDIS participants and ensuring the sustainability of the scheme."
Martin Mane,
General Manager Integrity Transformation, NDIA
The program is being delivered in parallel to the most significant legislative reforms since the NDIS started. Participants remain at the heart of this transformation, and the program is working with the disability community to deliver valuable changes.

Disclaimer
“Certain numbers in this report have been rounded to one decimal place. Due to rounding, some totals may not correspond with the sum of the separate figures.”

Major Digital Projects Report