Corruption Found in Acquisition of Ultranet e-Learning System

The Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission of Victoria has found corrupt conduct by pubic servants in the acquisition of the failed Ultranet online teaching and learning system for all government schools.

"In 2006, the then Premier of Victoria announced a commitment to ‘revolutionise learning’ through the development and implementation of the Ultranet, an online teaching and learning system for all Victorian
government schools. The Ultranet was to be a virtual learning portal through which schools, students and parents could access and deliver curriculum content, student reports and other information.

The Ultranet project was closed down seven years later in 2013. It was described during this investigation as ‘a shambles in every sense of the word’. While the exact cost is unknown, IBAC heard evidence that the Ultranet was likely to have cost somewhere between $127 million and $240 million. ...

The investigation found evidence the tender
process for the Ultranet was improperly influenced and therefore corrupted, through improper relationships that senior departmental officers had ..."