Australian govt may review Infosys contracts after documents leak: reports

The Australian government may review the government contracts awarded to key clients of Synergy 360 - a Canberra lobbying and consulting firm - owned by friends of federal Liberal MP Stuart Robert, media reports said. One of the clients is Indian IT major Infosys.

A report by the Australian newspaper Sydney Morning Herald said Robert was secretly providing advice to Synergy 360 which helps large companies win lucrative government contracts.

The firm is owned by its MD David Milo and Robert’s former business partner John Margerison.


Earlier this month, services minister Bill Shorten said executive agency Services Australia and the state-owned National Disability Insurance Agency will conduct a “joint review” into the allegations.

“Milo repeatedly provided access to Robert in 2019 for one of Synergy’s key long-term clients, Indian multinational Infosys. As the minister responsible for government services, Robert announced in November 2019 that Infosys had won a multimillion-dollar open tender to deliver welfare calculation technology to Centrelink, known as the Entitlement Calculation Engine (ECE),” the report published on December 1 said.

Infosys wasn’t available for a comment to ET immediately.

In a statement to the Times of India, a company spokesperson said, “Infosys is committed to the highest level of compliance, integrity, and ethical business practices across markets in which it operates. It is also important to note that the specific contract being referenced underwent a 14-month-long government procurement process as per the Australian government procurement framework. This included government appointed pricing and probity consultants and government legal counsel to ensure an unbiased selection process.”

Infosys beat IBM and Accenture for the ECE transformation deal that pays income support to about six million Australians.

Over the following years, the report added that Infosys won ECE contracts worth more than $135 million as it also sought to win other contracts from Services Australia and other government departments.

The report said internal files created between 2018 and 2020 at Synergy 360 show Infosys agreed to pay Synergy a $15,000 monthly retainer and at least a 1% cut of every government contract it won.