Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2012/04/04/ato_developer_website_upgrade/

ATO to refresh developer website

Seeks Drupal, MySQL help for "additional complex functionality"

By Simon Sharwood

Posted in Legal, 4th April 2012 01:00 GMT

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO)needs help with open source software.

In a new tender, the agency reveals that its website for software developers is built on Drupal 5.7, MySQL 5.077 and Apache.

The developers' site is very important as it provides information accounting software developers require to ensure their products implement new tax laws. Developers have, in the past, complained when the ATO has been tardy posting information as any delays leave them struggling to deliver upgrades on time to their customers.

Developers who like the idea of the ATO seeking outside resources to help it work may therefore fear a provision that says the winning contractor coud be asked to perform “major changes to the structure of the website as well as the creation of additional complex functionality.”

But accounting software developers don't need to get too nervous. Or not yet, anyway, as the contract runs for two years. ®