Government and public sector

Government and public sector app development

Rocket Lab Australia designs, builds and supports web and mobile applications for government agencies and public bodies: apps for frontline and field staff, services the public uses directly, and the admin systems behind them. We work from Sydney and Melbourne, and you deal directly with the designers and engineers building your application.

Book a free consultation See our public sector work

Field, staff and public-facing apps
Sydney and Melbourne team
You own the code once it is paid for

Web and mobile applications for agencies and the people they serve.

Our public sector clients include NSW Police Force, CSIRO, Education Services Australia and the South Australian Tourism Commission.

What we build for government and the public sector

Public sector software has to work for staff in the field, for the public, and for the teams who run it.

Apps for frontline and field staff
Mobile apps for officers, researchers and inspectors: guided forms, data captured on site, and offline use where the signal drops.
Services for the public
Websites, catalogues and apps people use directly, designed so they are clear to use and work across browsers and devices.
Admin portals
Secure web portals for the people who configure, monitor and export the data: surveys, reports, listings and users.
Integration with your systems
Connections to internal databases, GIS, sign-in providers, content systems and data feeds, mapped in discovery so they are in the quote.
See technical architecture
Stalled platforms brought to launch
Platforms that have stalled or changed hands, stabilised and brought to launch, then modernised only where it is needed.
See app modernisation and takeover
Support after launch
Maintenance, monitoring and new features after launch, so the service keeps working as needs and users change.
See ongoing support

Public sector applications we have built

Four projects from our case studies, each built around how the organisation already works.

Policing
NSW Police Force
A secure, mobile-first reporting app for frontline officers, with guided step-by-step reporting, data captured at the scene and offline use in low-connectivity areas. Officers save time on each report, reports are consistent across commands, and case information is available sooner.
Read the NSW Police Force case study
Science and research
CSIRO
The Bushfire Surveyor System: an offline-capable field app for tablets and phones and a web admin portal, integrated with CSIRO's internal databases and GIS systems.
Read the CSIRO case study
Education
Education Services Australia
We stabilised the Safer Technologies 4 Schools catalogue, built on Directus, with stable staging and production environments and sign-in fixed by integrating Kinde. It launched by the end of the financial year, as promised, and we still maintain it.
Read the Education Services Australia case study
Tourism
South Australian Tourism Commission
Explore South Australia, the commission's official travel app for iOS and Android, and the Trip Planner on southaustralia.com. Its 7,000+ listings come from the Australian Tourism Data Warehouse, and trips sync between the website and the app.
Read the South Australian Tourism Commission case study

For larger organisations outside government, see enterprise app development, or browse all case studies.

Why public sector teams choose Rocket Lab

Built for the field
Validation where data is entered, and apps that keep working offline and sync when the connection returns. CSIRO's field app and the NSW Police Force app both work in low-connectivity areas.
Projects that reach launch
We take on platforms that have stalled and get them live. Education Services Australia's catalogue launched by the end of the financial year, as promised.
Security planned before the build
We agree your security, access and compliance requirements in discovery, and design the architecture to meet them: sign-in, roles and permissions, and separate staging and production environments.
Senior and local
Your application is designed and built by our Australian-based team in Sydney and Melbourne, and you work directly with the people writing the code.

How a government project runs

Clear stages, a fixed quote before the build, and working software to show at every step.

Discovery and design
A short discovery and design phase defines the users, flows, integrations and architecture, so the quote is based on evidence rather than a guess.
Fixed quote and timeline
Every build gets a fixed quote after discovery, and discovery confirms the timeline. A focused first release usually takes 2 to 3 months, a medium-sized product 4 to 6 months and a larger platform 6 months or more.
Fortnightly sprints
We build in fortnightly sprints and run a show and tell at the end of each one, so your stakeholders see working software, not status reports.
Testing and launch
A user acceptance testing phase with your team before launch, and we are with you through the release.
Handover
Documentation and a handover your team can work from. You own the code once the project is paid in full.
Support and growth
After launch we keep supporting and extending the application through ongoing support and optimisation.

Government app development FAQs

What government and public sector projects have you delivered?

Apps for frontline and field staff, services for the public, and the admin systems behind them. For NSW Police Force we designed and delivered a secure, mobile-first reporting app for frontline officers. For CSIRO we built the Bushfire Surveyor System, an offline-capable field app and web admin portal. For Education Services Australia we stabilised the Safer Technologies 4 Schools catalogue and got it ready for launch. For the South Australian Tourism Commission we built Explore South Australia, its official travel app, and the Trip Planner on southaustralia.com.

What standards apply to government apps?

For Australian Government agencies, the Digital Service Standard is mandatory for new and replacement public-facing and staff-facing services, and for existing public-facing services since 1 July 2025. One of its ten criteria, Leave no one behind, asks agencies to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act 1992, the latest version of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and the Australian Government Style Manual. State and territory agencies may have their own standards. We agree which apply to your project in discovery, along with your security, access and hosting requirements.

How much does a government app cost?

It depends on scope: the users and roles, the systems it connects to, the platforms and how much already exists. We recommend a short discovery phase first, so the fixed quote is based on evidence rather than a guess, and a free consultation is enough for a ballpark.

Can you integrate with our existing systems?

Yes. Most enterprise applications we build connect to something that already exists. We integrated CSIRO's field app with its internal databases and GIS systems, moved Webjet off two legacy content systems onto one headless CMS, and are extracting James Hardie's portal data for its move to Salesforce.

Can you take over our existing app?

Yes. For apps built with tools like Lovable, Cursor or Claude Code, the App Rescue Report tells you what to fix, what to cut and what it costs to launch. For larger products we start with a technical review, then modernise or rebuild only what needs it, with ongoing support and optimisation after launch.

Do you only work with clients in Sydney and Melbourne?

Our team is based in Sydney and Melbourne, and we work with clients across Australia.

What happens in a free consultation?

A 30-minute call with a senior member of the team. You tell us what you are building, we ask about goals, users, timeline and budget, and we tell you honestly whether we are the right fit. No pitch deck, no obligation. Book a free consultation when it suits you.