The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) wants to overhaul its election systems, but it doesn’t exactly know how such overhaul will look, or what it will comprise of. The AEC published a request for information (RFI) this week, seeking specifically “innovative” ideas and approaches to designing and delivering an Election Systems Modernisation Program, asking the market for guidance on everything from procurement constraints to the end result. The core software platforms currently in place at the AEC have been in use for almost 30 years, the RFI revealed, with the AEC’s systems environment consisting of approximately 93 systems and supporting sub-systems. The 90-plus systems deliver services to citizens and political parties, support the work of the AEC, and provide integration and interface services, the AEC explained.
“The technology platforms that support these ICT systems, while old, are still capable of processing large volumes of data and are reliable for the short term,” it clarified.
“These systems and associated sub-systems have been developed incrementally over time to deliver new business requirements and improve connection between business systems and databases. Most of these systems and sub-systems are bespoke in nature as no commercial off the shelf products were available at the time to meet legislative requirements.”
Full Article: Electoral Commission seeks advice on overhauling 30-year-old systems | ZDNet.