Capgemini’s role in the federal Aged Care digital transformation has more than doubled in value in a little over a year, growing from $36.7 million to $83.3 million, primarily for Salesforce-related services.
The company initially secured a $36.7m "work order" in May last year for what was described as “capability to support the delivery of ICT infrastructure for the Aged Care system.”
A one-year extension, for another $36.7m, was taken up in May this year, and earlier this month, a further $9.7 million contract was published with the same description and April 2025 expiry - bringing the total allocated to Capgemini to $83.3 million.
iTnews has confirmed that most of the money - $73.4 million - relates to the “development, support and sustainment” of Salesforce and MuleSoft.
An unspecified chunk of this is for the Salesforce-based technical foundations of the government provider management system (GPMS), which replaces an existing 20-year-old system.
The value of the GPMS to Salesforce has also increased, from $13.5 million in February last year to $29.2 million, according to tender records.
However, it’s understood that there are Salesforce and MuleSoft uses outside of the GPMS as well, that Capgemini is also contributing to.
The newest $9.7 million contract with Capgemini, although carrying the same description as the others, is for a separate package of work related to “user-centred design services”.
“Capgemini is currently providing professional services to the aged care digital transformation program in two main areas: development, support and sustainment of our Salesforce/MuleSoft platform; and provision of design resources as part of working with our business partners in scoping of requirements,” a Department of Health and Aged Care spokesperson told iTnews.
“The value of the contracts has increased over the period in line with demand to meet government objectives to support the digital transformation work.
“The separate work order for $9.7 million primarily covers the provision of design resources. These services were originally incorporated into a previous work order, however, were separated into a new work order to better support administration of the work.
“Both work orders are within the same master contract with Capgemini.”
Capgemini was initially awarded a 12-month, $36.4 million “work order”, with two 12-month extension options, one of which has now been taken up.
This aligns with a published case study on the GPMS, which states that “the team received 12 months of funding initially”, with more to be released as the project progressed.
A breakdown of the contract notices on AusTender shows that a “minor component” of user-centred design services was bundled into the initial $36.4 million “work order”.
With the work now separated out, it is simpler to account for the various work streams in the transformation that Capgemini has been contracted to assist with.
The department has been a key recipient of federal budget funds for “ICT infrastructure” in consecutive years, with a $312 million allocation in Budget 2022, followed by $214.5 million in Budget 2023 and $174.5 million in Budget 2024.
It’s not clear how much overlap there is in these funding amounts, but funding for technology in Aged Care was considered overdue.
A Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, which handed down its findings in March 2021, recommended sweeping changes to IT systems in the sector, as well as a focus on adopting digital technology to improve resident care and wellbeing.