Australia’s digital ID system passes $200M in costs as fee system considered

Australia’s GovPass scheme has exceeded $200 million in costs so far, as the government attempts to monetize the national digital ID program, InnovationAus reports.

A recent listing on the Digital Marketplace of Australia’s Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) opened up bidding to three invited sellers for three days to deliver a discussion paper to begin work towards a system for charging stakeholders to use the federated digital ID program. The discussion paper is expected to suggest a high-level fee model, a policy framework and implementation plan for cost recovery, along with a risk assessment, role definitions and a review framework.

InnovationAus writes that it is unclear how the charging scheme would work, or whether fees would be applied to use of GovPass by state and territory governments. The DTA declined to comment on plans to charge for GovPass use to the publication.

The fourth version of the Trusted Digital Identities Framework (TDIF), which sets out the rules for accrediting private sector businesses to operate as part of the GovPass system, was set for two years at the beginning of May. The TDIF is one of four components of the GovPass system, which launched five years ago. The Australian Tax Office’s (ATO’s) digital identity offering, one of two accredited so far, along with Eftpos, went live in March, replacing the AUSKey for online transactions with government agencies.

The DTA is also looking to hire a biometrics and security specialist to report on the potential use of biometric technology within the digital identity ecosystem.

Article Topics

Australia  |  biometrics  |  digital identity  |  government services  |  online authentication  |  secure transactions