The $243 million project, led by the Treasury Department, aims to simplify electronic filing of business financial information with the government.

SBR will provide a single, secure log-on for businesses to seamlessly send financial reports and information captured in more than 220 accounting software programs to agencies including state and territory revenue offices, the Bureau of Statistics, the Prudential Regulation Authority, the Securities and Investments Commission, and the tax office.

IBM will design the core technology infrastructure and platforms to connect with systems operated by government agencies and offices.

Reports that IBM and Accenture had formed a consortium to bid for the project were hosed down by SBR program manager, Greg Divall, who said that only “prime contractors” had participated in the tender process.

Another SBR contract, worth $1.7 million, was awarded to Cybertrust Australia, a subsidiary of Verizon Business, for design authentication technology that will allow a business to verify its identity with the government.

However, SBR program director Paul Madden said the core services and authentication components were only a small part of the project.

“The core of our work is really in the creation of the reporting taxonomy,” said Mr Madden. “There’s a fair bit of investment there as well as the workforce required to do the design work, and the legal sign-offs for the agencies.”
The project will be completed by the end of the year after which Treasury and key stakeholders, including software developers and reporting staff, will evaluate the designs.

The department will then decide if it IBM and Cybertrust's services would be required to develop the actual technology, or re-tender the work.