Staffing numbers at the NBN Co have grown to the point where the company responsible for the National Broadband Network now requires the services of a human resources (HR) partner.
NBN Co has just hired Accenture to host HR applications and provide support to NBN Co employees via the web and phone.
The contract also includes HR administration, records management, recruitment administration and performance and rewards administration.
NBN Co currently has 100 employees, but this is expected to grow to 300 by the middle of the year.
NBN Co chief human resources officer, Kevin Brown, said Accenture had a proven track record of supplying high-quality systems and process to governments and corporations in Australia.
“It has been selected because it provides multiple HR products such as payroll and recruitment, giving NBN Co the flexibility to select applications that best suit its business as it grows,” he said in a statement.
NBN Co is also making a point of transparency in its appointment of Accenture.
“PricewaterhouseCoopers provided independent advice to NBN Co around the tender process to ensure a rigorous and objective assessment of vendors and competitive pricing in the contract between NBN Co and Accenture,” a statement from NBN Co reads.
The additional detail follows the raising of questions around the recent hiring of former Queensland premier chief of staff, Mike Kaiser, as NBN Co government relations officer with a salary of $450,000 per year.
NBN Co also announced yesterday that it had selected the first five mainland NBN trial sites.