Understanding pricing
GovCMS pricing plans give agencies the option to migrate one or multiple websites to the GovCMS platform. An agency's total page views determines the most suitable pricing plan for that agency.
Pricing plan components
- Setup fee - a one-off establishment fee charged per website
- Maintenance - a capped annual fee charged per website to cover maintenance, updates, fixes and performance optimisation conducted by the Department of Finance.
- Hosting - an annual fee based on the number of page views an agency receives across all of the websites the agency has on GovCMS. Your website data from the previous 12 months is used to predict expected page views.
Note: the maintenance and hosting fees are combined for an agency's initial GovCMS website. Additional websites will incur additional capped maintenance fees.
The GovCMS plans you sign up for includes website hosting and management of the software and platform (or just the platform if you have a PaaS plan). You should also be considering things like how you intend to create and maintain your new website; and how you intend to migrate existing content.
Government agencies must buy their GovCMS hosting plan directly from the Department of Finance, but many agencies will need extra help to redevelop or migrate their website. Agencies are not required to use the GovCMS service provider for the additional services. Most choose one of the following options to get this work done:
- Some agencies have internal resources who can do this work, often supplemented by contractors and other experts
- Agencies can engage another agency, including the Department of Finance, to build and migrate their site
- Agencies can approach the market directly, seeking quotes or tender responses, and choose a supplier
- Agencies can use the Deed of Standing Offer that is in place between the Department of Finance and our main contractor, Acquia Inc.
It is up to each agency to assess if a service offering meets their needs and offers value for money.
Note: A GovCMS Drupal Services Panel is available to support agencies as they transition to GovCMS and to help them manage and maintain their Drupal sites.
Package examples
- Assisted lift and shift - Where assistance is provided for configuration and to get an agency started with populating site content. The agency then completes the content population and performs steps through to site go live. The agency may require assistance with migrating the site but does not require redesign or development.
- Discovery phase only - Identifies site purpose and requirements, and evaluates the existing site. The output of discovery is a plan with estimated costs (including redesign and development if applicable).
- Full redesign, development and implementation of the agency’s website.
Please note
- Agencies will need to ensure their service provider or internal teams are able to undertake the work in line with the requirements to have a website hosted on GovCMS.
- Where a service provider or agency team develops a custom module or requests that an existing module be used, the module will be required to go through a certification process to ensure that the platform will not be compromised.
For suppliers
Find out how your business can get involved in providing services to public sector users of GovCMS.
