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The “most significant single investment in the Australian Signals Directorate’s 75 years” has now been linked to the widening scandal that is enveloping consulting firm KPMG.
The latest wrinkle in a saga that has seen the entire financial consulting industry impacted was revealed on Friday (11 August), when the details of a three-year contract between the ASD and KPMG were published.
However, KPMG assisted the ASD in designing the $46 million project and was able to use the information it had gathered during the design process to create a successful tender.
According to the ABC, which broke the story, the industry term for this kind of behaviour is “marking your own homework”.
The news of KPMG’s work on the contract comes days after it was revealed that the firm had submitted inflated invoices for hours not worked to the Australian Department of Defence.
The ASD’s REDSPICE program was established in 2022 with the aim of “maintaining Australia’s strategic advantage and capability edge over the coming decade and beyond”. This includes boosting offensive cyber capacity by three times over current staffing levels, alongside the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies.
The program aims to create “1,900 new analyst, technologist, corporate and enabling roles across Australia and the world”.
In its defence, the ASD said in a statement to the ABC that it “undertook a competitive tender process to assist with project management of the REDSPICE initiative”.
“Multiple partners were selected, of which KPMG is one,” it said.
The consulting scandals kicked off when it was revealed that PwC had undertaken “unethical” behaviour in assisting some of its multinational clients to avoid paying taxes in Australia.
KPMG chief Andrew Yates said at the time of the PwC allegations that the company’s actions were “disturbing”.
“That’s why the PwC issue is so disturbing,” Yates told a Senate committee in June. “Based on the findings of the Tax Practitioners Board, and the more recent revelations from Senate estimates, the conduct at PwC was clearly unethical and unacceptable.”
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.
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