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waste Australian Taxation Office
$69.0M

ATO IT consultant cost blowout: $19M contracted ballooned to $88M

A 2025 ANAO performance audit found the ATO's procurement of IT managed services ballooned from $19.06M to $88.11M — a $69M, 362% overrun — due to poor scope management and inadequate contract oversight. The ANAO found the ATO did not adequately plan procurements, failed to document value-for-money assessments, and lacked effective controls to prevent cost escalation.

Department: Australian Taxation Office
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What This Means

$69.0M of Australian taxpayer money was wasted at Australian Taxation Office. A 2025 ANAO performance audit found the ATO's procurement of IT managed services ballooned from $19.06M to $88.11M — a $69M, 362% overrun — due to poor scope management and inadequate contract oversight. The ANAO found the ATO did not adequately plan procurements, failed to document value-for-money assessments, and lacked effective controls to prevent cost escalation.

Spread across Australia's 10.8 million households, that's roughly $6 per family — enough in total for covering the university fees of 2,300 students.

  • A 2025 ANAO performance audit found the ATO's procurement of IT managed services ballooned from $19.06M to $88.11M — a $69M, 362% overrun — due to poor scope management and inadequate contract oversight. The ANAO found the ATO did not adequately plan procurements, failed to document value-for-money assessments, and lacked effective controls to prevent cost escalation.
  • Data sourced from official ANAO audit reports and AusTender procurement records.
  • All findings are linked to primary government documents.
Amount Spent
Not specified
Original Estimate
Not specified
Waste / Overrun
$69,000,000
AI Confidence
0%

Analysis

🚨 ATO spent $88M on IT consultants. They budgeted $19M. That's a $69M blowout — 362% over. And ANAO says fraud controls were "not fit for purpose." Your tax authority can't manage its own contracts. @reckonerAU

Sources

https://www.anao.gov.au/work/performance-audit/australian-taxation-offices-procurement-of-it-managed-serviceshttps://ia.acs.org.au/article/2025/ato-audit-finds--69m-it-consultant-cost-blowout.html
Category: waste
Severity: critical
Agency: Australian Taxation Office
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Department: Australian Taxation Office
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