Te Tari Taiwhenua
Department of Internal Affairs
Purpose
1.
This paper updates you on the approach to the work to assess the viability of a
Bluetooth-enabled card to assist the government’s Covid-19 contact tracing response.
Background
2.
On 20 April 2020 Cabinet noted that officials are assessing the option of a Bluetooth-
enabled card to support contact tracing and will report back to: The Minister of
Finance; Minister for Government Digital Services; Minister of Health; and Minister of
Internal Affairs [CAB-20-MIN-0175 refers].
3.
Effective contact tracing is a critical component of the strategy to eliminate COVID-19
in New Zealand, by identifying close contacts and isolating them quickly and stopping
the spread of the virus.
4.
The work to assess the viability of issuing Bluetooth-enabled cards to the population
complements existing and planned contact tracing activities led by the Ministry of
Health (MoH).
5.
The card would enable contact tracing at scale by recording when a card comes into
close contact with other cards. The cards would not store or record personal
information or location data, but it will contain a unique identifier. Card contact
information would be stored in a central database that would only be accessed if a
cardholder tests positive and close contacts needed to be notified.
6.
The card will be assessed over the next six weeks. If approval is given to proceed with
implementation, then this would likely be complete by the end of August 2020.
7.
In support of MoH and the government’s overall COVID-19 Response, the Government
Chief Digital Officer (GCDO) is working with the Public Private Partnership (PPP) COVID-
19 team on the proof of concept for the Bluetooth enabled contact tracing card.
8.
This proof of concept will assess the feasibility of the technology, ability for
distribution, approach to management of the cards and the associated database, as
well as examining the associated policy and regulatory issues. This work will inform the
report back to Ministers, with initial prototype costs funded by the Department of
Internal Affairs (DIA).
Governance and engagement approach
9.
The GCDO has taken the lead in establishing a governance model reporting into
responsible Ministers for this work, with the following key elements:
a)
A Card Prototype Executive Governance Board has been created to provide
oversight and advice on the project. The Board is made up of representatives
from: The Ministry of Health; GCDO; Ministry of Business, Innovation and
Employment (MBIE); and the PPP.
b)
A core Programme Team involving several workstreams and officials from
several agencies, including MBIE, DIA and the Ministry of Justice.
10. A high-level breakdown of the governance structure for this project is attached as
Appendix A.
11. The Ministry of Justice is one of the agencies working on the project as part of the
Policy workstream, given issues of privacy and rights that need to be explored. Justice
officials have indicated that the Minister of Justice would be interested in being
IN-CONFIDENCE
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Te Tari Taiwhenua
Department of Internal Affairs
involved in pre-Cabinet Ministerial discussions on the potential implementation of the
Bluetooth-enabled Card.
12. The Chief Data Officer, Privacy Commissioner, Chief Information Security Officer and
GCSB have been engaged.
13. The PPP team are leading the engagement with solution providers including design,
prototyping and delivery. A key focus is ensuring the certification of the card
configuration parameters and the integration of the data with MoH’s overall contact
tracing process.
Project approach and key milestones
14. The project plan workstreams and high-level milestones are outlined as (
Appendix B).
15. Currently a multi-agency team is working on this project. The project is split into five
workstreams: Policy; Ministerial Advice; Finance & Procurement; Comms & Marketing;
and Product Development.
16. Product Development is also split into a further three phases. Currently the project is
in Phase 1 - Product Development and Validation. It is expected that this phase will be
completed by early June.
17. Some of the key milestones to take note of are as follows:
Early-May 2020 – Card trials and software improvements begin.
Late-May 2020 – Feasibility assessment of the card has been completed.
Early June 2020 – Cabinet paper drafted for consultation.
Mid-June 2020 – Report back to Cabinet with recommendations for next steps.
If approved, the process to create the cards begins.
Mid-July 2020 – First cards are sent out.
Late August 2020 – Rollout is complete.
Next steps
18. Work will continue under each of the workstreams identified in
Appendix B.
19. To inform the development of the Cabinet paper and keep responsible Ministers
informed, officials will provide further briefings with updates on progress and to test
policy direction.
IN-CONFIDENCE
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Te Tari Taiwhenua
Department of Internal Affairs
Appendix B: Draft Covid-19 contact card phase 1 programme and milestone
IN-CONFIDENCE
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