RELEASE02 Morrison 0118 4312888.1.pdf

Memo
Jun 30, 2020

To:
Mike Bush

Cc:
John Ombler

Brook Barrington

Raj Nahna

Brian Roche

From:  Rob Fyfe, Sam Morgan, Alastair Grigg

Subject:  CovidCard: Implementation Options and Next Steps

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Overview
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This memo follows Sustaining Elimination with CovidCard and Enhanced Digital Contact
Tracing, published June 5th 2020.  It outlines the timeframes for delivery that we consider most
likely for delivering CovidCard at population-level scale.

CovidCard is designed to enhance our COVID-19 defensive systems by accelerating contact
tracing and enabling rapid isolation of at-risk close contacts. European and Asian countries are
already beginning to open their borders, allowing passage without quarantine requirements
between countries deemed similar or lower-risk. The economic and social advantage New
Zealand has achieved by eliminating the virus and opening our domestic economy risks being
offset if we are forced to maintain our current border restrictions because we lack the tools and
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technologies to eliminate any new outbreaks of the virus that are imported across our border.

CovidCard could provide the Government with greater policy flexibility with regard to the
border.  We could have better options to relax the restrictions at the border, at least with low risk
countries, thanks to CovidCard enabling faster identification and isolation of close contacts and
second-order contacts in the event of new imported Covid-19 cases.
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With COVID-19 globally endemic, expected to remain so for three years or longer, we do not
consider keeping the border restrictions in place for an indefinite period the only approach
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available. CovidCard could help provide a valuable mitigation to the elevated risk associated with
a less restrictive border isolation regime.

If CovidCard is deployed to all New Zealanders and anyone boarding a flight or ship coming to
New Zealand and required to be carried in places of elevated risk (bars, restaurants, churches,
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workplaces etc) it would significantly strengthen contact tracing and dramatically improve our
chances of sustaining a strategy of elimination. We could consider opening our borders to low risk
countries, whilst staying out of Alert Level 3 or 4, thus mitigating the social and economic
damage that entails.

Our work on CovidCard found that it is affordable, that it works technically, and that there is
strong support for the concept across the businesses, Iwi representatives, unions and government
agencies we have engaged with.  We believe widespread adoption is eminently achievable.
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It matters greatly how soon we can get CovidCard ready for deployment. If CovidCard is an
insurance policy, we would like our insurance in effect as soon as possible. There will inevitably
be some elevated project implementation risks if we progress the CovidCard development and

Memo
Jun 30, 2020
deployment along an accelerated timeline, but the longer we take, the longer we remain
uninsured. The next 18 months are considered a period of significantly elevated risk.  There is a
committed group of people involved and able to mobilise to deliver the project.

Working under the GCDO/DIA, we have already completed the necessary work and now have
the confidence to progress at pace - to appropriate the required funding, stand-up the delivery
team and push to get CovidCard ready for deployment as soon as possible.

The technical proof-of-concept work completed thus far is undergoing an independent
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review - hopefully a 2-3 week process for completion mid-July.  We have, as yet, had no
substantive feedback or indication as to whether the New Zealand Government wishes to
progress this project. Given the project timelines and the risk of losing continuity of the
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people, that have progressed the project to this point, it would be valuable to receive
an indication of the Government’s intent and next steps as soon as possible
Decision Required:  Two options
Delivery of CovidCard to population level scale involves many streams of work across hardware,
software, supply chain, manufacturing, research, marketing, policy and legislative development
and more. The project will require Ministerial sponsorship, a Senior Responsible Owner and an
appropriate entity established within which the CovidCard and Database can be developed,
maintained and accessed independent of other Government agencies and to ensure the
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appropriate data privacy and sovereignty.  We note that there is presently no appointed
management or vendors beyond the completed phase.

The two options and timeframes we see for the project are as follows:

1.  Single phase, delivery as fast as possible, deployment commencing January 2021:  We
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assume funding is appropriated (and released progressively at approved gateways),
management team appointed, and all streams progressed in parallel.  The Government
could stop the project at any time, but the project would not need to seek approval to
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proceed after each phase. Population level deployment would commence by mid-January
2021.

2.  Multi-phase, with several approval cycles, deployment commencing mid
September  2021:  We assume multiple phases to better manage risk and spend,
sequenced, with multiple delays with increased documentation to enable formal review of
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each phase, with formal Ministerial or Cabinet decisions to proceed after each phase. This
approach typifies how projects of this nature are delivered to the Government under
normal circumstances.

To illustrate the impact of progressing in sequence rather than in parallel, the next logical phase
includes a “large-scale field trial”, perhaps conducted at a military base. We consider this trial
necessary to further confirm findings and refine our approach, particularly in relation to human
behaviours. It is not required to further validate the overall technical viability.  This large-scale
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field trial will take up to 8 weeks to complete and document. There would then be a number of
weeks required for a Government decision to further proceed at a time when there is a national
election.  If we do not aggressively progress other streams of work in parallel, then this next phase
alone could extend delivery timeframes by over 3 months.

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