The whole-of-government Govpass digital identity solution has been pulled from Vault Systems' cloud platform and handed to agencies Human Services and Tax to host internally.
Vault Systems was picked to host the solution in its ASD-certified cloud computing platform last year while the Digital Transformation Agency developed digital identity prototypes.
The then-DTA chief Gavin Slater hailed the decision as a win for the company, which was one of only a handful of firms to received protected-level accreditation from the Australian Signals Directorate last year.
“Privacy and protection of personal information is at the heart of the DTA’s work on digital identity. Building trust in how the government stores personal data is not something we compromise on,” Slater said at the time.
“Vault’s open standards cloud has been the perfect solution for Govpass, providing a level of security and sovereignty that is critical to making the process of proving who you are to government simple, safe and secure.”
The agency had been developing the Govpass' identity exchange component using cloud infrastructure from Vault Systems after being unable to find a suitable market offering.
The exchange is the gateway that will connect an individual’s credentials - provided by a separate identity verifier such as a bank or government agency - with a government service without revealing their identity to the service provider.
At that time the government had yet to choose which agency would operate as the Commonwealth Identity Provider or run the identity exchange.
It has since chosen the Australian Taxation Office as the government’s new digital identity credential known as myGovID, and the Department of Human Services to operate the exchange.
But after finalising the role Canberra’s biggest service agencies will play in the digital identity program, Govpass was pulled from Vault Systems.
“Following the decision that DHS and ATO will operate the digital identity system’s components, the two agencies assumed responsibility for hosting these components,” a spokesperson told iTnews.
Vault Systems had provided a hosting environment for the DTA’s digital identity system prototypes through a 12-month deal between Canberra-based IT business Gulanga’s and the agency.
Both DHS and ATO are now preparing for the first pilot of the Govpass platform in October using the ATO’s new online tax file number application service.
This will be followed by trials for business and welfare recipients from December, as well as a pilot that allows individuals to create a My Health Record from March next year.
myGovID credential will also replace the ATO's AUSkey authentication solution by March 2020.
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