The department's CIO, Graham Fry, said the goal was to avoid being "bogged down by existing contracts and infrastructure".

Since being appointed to the role three years ago, Fry has been seeking greater agility in the area of procurement.

"We did a few things, like negotiate a change from CPU-based [licensing] to head count so we weren't paying for licences that weren't being used," Fry said. "We put competitive pressure on licensing across the board."

With savings around 18 percent, which, on the department's previous annual spend of A$700,000 (US$526,000), is more than A$120,000 a year - it is an ongoing saving.

Fry said licensing is reviewed regularly through a special group established to tackle this task, adding that the process is tightly managed.