Bureau of Meteorology asked to examine $96.5M bill for website redesign

Summary

The Bureau of Meteorology's (BOM) flawed and expensive redesigned website will come under renewed scrutiny, with the federal environment minister asking the agency's new boss to closely examine how it all went so wrong, and report back to him.It comes amid revelations that the new website cost more than $96 million to design — a far cry from the $4 million figure it originally claimed had been spent.The national weather agency was flooded with complaints by the public after the website was launched a month ago. Users found it difficult to navigate, and also criticised the changes to the radar map, which made place names hard to read. BOM users, farmers in particular, were critical of the changes made to the radar map. (ABC Rural: Justine Longmore)Farmers were scathing, as they were unable to locate rainfall data.The federal government was forced to intervene, ordering the agency to fix the website. The site has since reverted to the old version of the radar map and other tweaks have been made to the site, with further changes to be rolled out.In a statement provided to the ABC, the BOM admitted "the total cost of the website is approximately $96.5 million".'Complete rebuild necessary' It said the cost breakdown included $4.1 million for the redesign, $79.8 million for the website build, and the site's launch and security testing cost $12.6 million."A complete rebuild was necessary to ensure the website meets modern security, usability and accessibility requirements for the millions of Australians who reply on it every day," a spokesperson said.The spokesperson also said it had "continued to listen to and analyse community feedback" since the launch of the new website on October 22.The BOM says it continues to listen to and analyse community feedback. (ABC News: Greg Bigelow)Nine days after the launch it changed the radar map back to what it had previously been. "This brought back the visual style that the community said they found intuitive and reliable for interpre...