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International technology consultancy Slalom has taken over digital delivery responsibilities from PwC for the 2026 Australian Census.
The fallout from PwC’s breach of government tax policy continues with Slalom taking over digital delivery duties for the 2026 Australian Census. After a disastrous 2016 partnership with IBM, the Australian Bureau of Statistics turned to PwC and widely credited the Big Four with a successful 2021 result.
However, PwC has since frozen and the slalom is now coming into play – a huge win for the firm after only going downhill in early 2020.
Based in the US and with around 12,000 professionals globally, Slalom only really took off in Australia in early 2020 via the launch of offices in Melbourne and Sydney, before expanding to New Zealand last year. Despite a challenging recruitment environment caused by Covid and other market factors, the consultancy grew to 200 ahead of schedule, an impressive but tiny fraction compared to PwC’s previous headcount of over 10,000.
To be selected by ABS for such a critical task is a huge coup for a start-up consultancy and may be indicative of a wider trend in government sector consultancy, blacklisting not only PwC but also the other Big Four giants and Accenture. favourably. ABS cited Slalom’s advanced delivery and software engineering expertise in its selection, while the firm was also responsible for providing operational support throughout the census cycle.
“As the cyber environment continues to change rapidly, protecting people’s privacy and keeping information safe and secure is a top priority for the ABS,” said Census and Data Acquisition Director General Duncan Young. “We will work with Slalom to build on the success of 2021 and optimize elements of the service to improve quality and performance while ensuring it remains secure and modern for 2026.”
Young, who will look after the population until it pushes 30 million, added that the ABS expects 85 per cent to complete the next census online, a further 10 per cent more than the 2021 target, despite fewer concerns about social distancing. Last time the system dealt with a peak of 270 logins and 142 form submissions per second on census night, storing a total of 2.8 million, blocking about 130,000 malicious IP addresses in its lifetime.
According to AFR, PwC spent in the region of $40 million rebuilding and maintaining the system over a three-year period, with nearly 150 specialists across the firm’s various divisions involved in the project. While PwC was virtually excluded from the latest tender, PwC’s public sector consultancy, Scyne, has also not yet been officially launched and is still awaiting approval from the finance department and other regulators when tendering has ended.
Before the PwC scandal, Slalom’s managing director for A/NZ Michael Shimota said the firm’s model would be successful in Australia because it was both confident and humble. “Tall poppy syndrome is common in Australia. This means that if you are too big for your panties, you will be cut down a size. If you stay humble and get results, you will succeed. You need to develop trusting relationships. Since the market is smaller, tighter, negative issues become known quickly. Reputation is critical.”
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