Fairfax Media reported that the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) accidentally published commercial-in-confidence information about IPMG when uploading tender documents for its Tax Time printing contract.
The leak, which occurred in October, included the prices IPMG charged when it held the contract between 2009 and 2012, said the Fairfax report.
The information was removed the following morning when IPMG contacted the ATO, reported Fairfax. The other bidder for the Tax Time contract, PMP, was then asked for assurances that it had not seen the confidential information, according to the report.
Fairfax reported that the print giant's ACT manager, Brad Jones, complained to the ATO about the potential commercial consequences of the leak.
''The information released by the ATO is a breach of government rules and guidelines and the integrity of the process has still been compromised even if the ATO do reissue the new RFQ [request for quote],'' he reportedly wrote.
[Related: IPMG wins census contract]
According to the news report, the ATO responded by saying: ''We take the security of commercial-in-confidence information entrusted to us very seriously. We immediately conducted an investigation and it is complete. The RFQ process was cancelled and a new process was re-issued on advice from the Australian Government Solicitor.
IPMG went on to win the re-issued tender.
The company, owned by the Hannan family, declined to comment when contacted by ProPrint.
The ATO had not responded to request for comment at the time of publication, however, ProPrint spoke to a department spokesperson about the Tax Time contract before news of the leak broke.
IPMG will print 10 million items across 41 product lines, said the spokesperson. The three-year contract is worth $1.3 million per year, according to the government's tendering portal.
"Individual tax return instructions and other products to help people fill in their tax returns will be distributed Australia-wide. The rest will be warehoused and available through our ordering system," said the ATO spokesperson.
[Related: Ups and downs of IPMG]
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