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Meeting the Digital Performance Standard

The Digital Performance Standard is made up of 5 criteria to assist government in monitoring, assessing, and reporting digital service performance.

To successfully apply the Digital Performance Standard, agencies must meet all the criteria.

All public-facing services subject to the IOF process that are funded in the 2025-26 Budget or thereafter will need to measure the effectiveness of their new or redeveloped service and report outcomes to the DTA.

To improve the digital experience of services, agencies are also encouraged to:

• consider how the criteria may apply across other digital services within their agency
• consider the non-digital experience of users to make sure services meet user expectations.

Alignment with the Investment Oversight Framework

Agencies must consider how their proposal aligns to the Digital Performance Standard throughout all the Digital and ICT Investment Oversight Framework (IOF) states. 

During the design phase, agencies should consider how to apply the Digital Performance Standard during the Strategic Planning, Prioritisation and Sourcing states, in particular Criterion 1, to align with the strategic outcomes of government. 

For new or replacement services from 1 January 2025, agency compliance with the Digital Performance Standard will be assessed through the IOF at the following states: 

• Contestability: The Digital Performance Standard will be assessed as part of the existing ICT Investment Approval Process. Agencies must demonstrate to the DTA how they have, or will, apply the Digital Performance Standard and provide evidence to support it through the Digital Capability Assessment Process (DCAP). Guidance of what evidence is required will be provided as part of the DCAP Agency Guide. 
• Assurance: The Digital Performance Standard will be assessed through the Assurance Framework. Agencies will be required to demonstrate to the DTA how they applied the Digital Performance Standard and provide supporting evidence.
• Operations: Agencies will be required to demonstrate to the DTA how they have applied the Digital Performance Standard, providing evidence as part of their ongoing reporting requirements. 

For new digital services, agencies should consider obligations under the Digital Performance Standard throughout the Sourcing state.

Additional information on how the DTA will assess compliance with the Digital Inclusion Standard is provided in the Compliance and Reporting Framework. This Framework will continue to be evaluated and is expected to mature over time.

Measuring success of the Digital Performance Standard 

The DTA will oversee adherence to the Digital Performance Standard by collecting self-assessed data from agencies throughout IOF processes and as part of ongoing reporting requirements during operation of their service (post-implementation). As set out in the Digital Performance Standard, agencies are required to report these to the DTA within specified timeframes and maintain continuous improvement against performance measures. Data will be used by the DTA to provide advice on the performance of government services over time. It is not intended to compare services, but to support future prioritisation and investment decisions.

Transition approach

The Digital Access Standard will be implemented in phases to target the requirements for agencies to connect new services for individuals to myGov. This will be followed by further decision-making principles that will consider digital service access more broadly.

• Phase 1: 1 January 2025 – New and replacement digital services for individuals suitable for myGov
• Phase 2: 1 January 2026 – All other new and replacement public-facing digital services for individuals as well as those for businesses and providers.

The DTA will regularly review the Digital Access Standard and make improvements as government service delivery and digital services mature. Improvements will be made in line with agency application and feedback.

Phase 1 – Services for individuals suitable for myGov

From 1 January 2025, services that meet the following criteria will be required to meet the Digital Access Standard.

• owned by non-corporate Commonwealth entities
• informational or transactional
• authenticated or unauthenticated
• new or replacement services
• public-facing digital services for individuals suitable for myGov.

Meeting the Digital Access Standard

The Digital Access Standard is made up of 5 criteria agencies must follow to determine if they need to reuse an existing access point or if they can create a new one.

To successfully apply it, agencies must meet all the criteria and be able to demonstrate:

• it is understood where the users of a new service already go to access existing digital government services 
• capabilities needed to support the new service are well defined 
• that the Australian Government Architecture (AGA) has been used to identify the tools, capabilities, policies and standards relevant to the new service 
• the decision-making framework has been applied 
• service delivery partners (where relevant) have been engaged to reuse existing access points and capabilities.

Alignment with the Investment Oversight Framework

Agencies are expected to consider how their proposal aligns to the Digital Access Standard throughout all states of the Digital and ICT Investment Oversight Framework.

During the design phase, agencies should consider how to apply the Digital Access Standard during the Strategic Planning and Prioritisation states to ensure alignment with the strategic outcomes of government.

From 1 January 2025, proposals for new digital services will be assessed through the IOF, at the following states:

• Prioritisation state: The Digital Access Standard will be assessed as part of the existing Digital Investment Overview (DIO). Where the proposal has a public-facing digital service, agencies will be required to demonstrate they have considered the criteria of the Digital Access Standard, and suitability of either integration with an existing, or development of a new access point.
• Contestability state: The Digital Access Standard will be assessed as part of the existing ICT Investment Approval Process. Agencies must demonstrate to the DTA how they have or will apply the Digital Access Standard and provide evidence to support it through the Digital Capability Assessment Process (DCAP). Guidance of what evidence is required will be provided as part of the DCAP Agency Guide.
• Assurance state: The Digital Access Standard will be assessed through the Assurance Framework. Agencies will be required to demonstrate to the DTA how they applied the Digital Access Standard and provide supporting evidence.

For new services, agencies should consider obligations under the Digital Access Standard throughout the Sourcing and Operations states.

The Digital Access Standard will not apply to existing services in the first instance. Agencies will be consulted to determine if a process for the assessment of existing services will be applied in future.

Additional information on how the DTA will assess compliance with the Digital Access Standard is provided in the Compliance and Reporting Framework. This framework will continue to be evaluated and is expected to mature over time.

Measuring success of the Digital Access Standard

The DTA will measure success by reporting on agencies’ compliance with the Digital Access Standard.

The DTA will provide oversight of adherence to the Digital Access Standard by collecting data from agencies through existing DTA data collection mechanisms, such as the digital and ICT Approved Programs Collection (referred to as Wave).

Agencies will be required to report outcomes to the DTA to maintain a Digital Register to track the digital landscape across the Australian Government. The DTA will require agencies to report when new access points are created, and where changes to existing access points are made, including how these access points interact with digital services. Reporting for the Digital Access Standard will be required:

• for digital services for individuals suitable for myGov from 1 January 2025
• for all other public-facing digital services from 1 January 2026.

This register will allow the DTA to track the landscape of entry points and front doors across government to manage the performance of the Digital Access Standard and provide advice to government on refining the digital landscape of service experiences. New access point updates to the register will be informed by data provided through IOF reporting processes and will support reuse of government systems through the Australian Government Architecture.