Boroondara Council reveals second contract awarded to Deloitte as part of $11.7m website overhaul

A council in Melbourne’s leafy east has been forced to release more details about the staggering $11.7 million it spent on its website, under Freedom of Information documents. Here’s what can now be revealed.

Boroondara Council has released more details about its $11.7 million website under Freedom of Information, including a further tender awarded to Deloitte.

More than $130,000 was awarded to Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu to create an information management strategy — on top of the $9.5 million the global consulting giant was paid for the website’s design and build.

Boroondara Council set to drop a staggering $11.7 million on new website

Boroondara Council fails to provide further information on $11.7m website

It was also revealed new electronic eForms — repeatedly pointed to by the council as a key delivery of the project — cost the council $149,600, with Jadu Software Pty Ltd undertaking the work.

A separate company, Stilla Design, was employed to create the eForm icons at a cost of $780.

Web developers the Leader spoke to previously said the website’s cost was “extraordinary”.

Paul Cousins of Web Initiatives said many parts of the project, including the development of eForms and their icons, could have been bundled in with Deloitte’s costly contract.

Another web developer, Renato Dayan of Light Media said his company overhauled council websites for a fraction of the cost, though he noted the council provided insufficient information about Deloitte’s work.

Part of Boroondara Council’s costly website.

Other Melbourne councils also paid far less for their website overhauls, as revealed by the Leader last year, despite many of their projects involving similar work.

Boroondara Council spokeswoman Marilyn Kearney said the council was “confident” its website redevelopment provided value for money.

“Council is transforming the way its customers can communicate with us, locate information they need, complete transactions and find solutions,” she said.

Deloitte provided the most comprehensive tender response for the largest $9.5 million component of the project, she said, and an independent auditor was appointed to ensure the process was transparent.

Ongoing maintenance costs for the website were included in their contract, she said, and she insisted it was important to “compare like with like” when judging the cost of the digital overhaul.

“While other councils may have refreshed or replaced their websites … it would be inappropriate to comment on the scope of external projects or their level of spend,” she said.

Incensed residents have previously called for an investigation into the council’s website expenditure.

Local Government Minister Adem Somyurek said it was up to councils to manage their spending.

“Councillors are elected by their communities to make decisions like this and I expect that they will be accountable to them as well,” he said.

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