DTA: Majority of govt's digital projects 'on track' to be delivered

The Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) has released the third annual Major Digital Projects Report 2026, a review of 103 in-flight major digital projects across 43 government agencies, representing over $9.7 billion of investment including $5.9 billion in digital technologies.

Every Tier 1 and Tier 2 project now reports delivery confidence assessments, and most are on track, with 60.0% rated Medium-High or High.

While the share of projects in these top confidence bands is unchanged from last year, they now account for 69.5% of total investment (up from 52.9% in 2025).

Tier 1 projects are the Australian Government’s most complex and strategically significant digital projects; Tier 2 projects are also complex and strategically significant, but with smaller scope, lower criticality and/or lower cost than Tier 1 projects; and Tier 3 projects are significant investments that generally represent lower risk.

Nearly three quarters (74.2%) of Tier 1 investment is in Medium-High or High confidence projects (up from 39.4% in 2025), while the average budget of lower-confidence Tier 1 projects has halved, from $256.0 million to $137.9 million.

"In effect, delivery risk has migrated to smaller investments, which are more agile to remediate – strengthening overall resilience of the government's digital portfolio," the report stated.

One-third of projects reporting a Medium or lower delivery confidence have a planned completion date within the next six months, which "reflects a heightened risk profile associated with compressed delivery timelines, resource constraints, and the complexity in the final stages of project integration and closure".

Projects at this stage of implementation are more susceptible to schedule slippage and quality risks, particularly where dependencies and residual issues converge late in the delivery cycle, according to the DTA.

Weak project management

Weak project management practices and maturing governance arrangements were identified as the most common root causes in terms of delivery challenges.

"When these foundations are not strong, they tend to trigger or amplify other delivery issues, resulting in changes or complexity in project scope, budget pressures because of scope changes, capability gaps and difficulty tracking resources, tight timelines, and technical obstacles," the report said.

Projects with Medium or lower delivery confidences are routinely managing three or more of these problem areas at once, according to the DTA.

Transparency needed for projects to succeed

Chris Fechner, CEO of the DTA, said that transparency is one of the conditions which needs to be in place for projects to succeed.

“This report highlights the progress we are making in transparency and understanding of project performance which, in turn, is helping us focus our efforts where we can have the most impact in supporting project success.”

Simon Quarrell, deputy CEO - Digital Investment Advice and Sourcing Division for the DTA, said that delivering projects in smaller, sequential tranches has been part of the DTA’s regular guidance and advice on right-size delivery.

“It reduces the risk of large-scale failures and enables agencies to adjust scope between stages," he explained.

“We’re seeing that most new projects under central assurance oversight are smaller and less complex. This approach de-risks projects and includes more frequent ‘proof points’ ahead of making additional funding commitments.

“Projects with strong delivery confidence share some common themes. They have strong leadership, robust governance, ongoing focus on benefits management, and use assurance as a strategic tool to improve the quality of key decisions and stay on track.”