The government's Digital Transformation Agency did not offer any clue as to who would provide the cloud hosting when asked about it on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The DTA decided that the Australian Taxation Office and the Department of Human Services would assume responsibility for hosting the components of the digital identity system, a decision that came to light on Tuesday.

But when the DTA was asked as to who would provide the cloud services on Tuesday — as neither DHS nor the ATO are in this business — the agency did not respond.

Mentioned was the fact that it would have to be one of the other four companies that are certified by the Australian Signals Directorate to the Protected status level: Dimension Data, Sliced Tech, Macquarie Government and Microsoft.

On Wednesday, DTA was asked: "In view of the fact that there is now no cloud host for Govpass — until the Department of Human Services and the ATO call for fresh bids — will this affect the scheduled trial of Govpass in October?"

A DTA spokesperson replied: "A pilot of the end-to-end digital Tax File Number application process featuring the Govpass identity provider, myGovID, is expected to begin in October this year.

"The Australian Taxation Office will the be first provider of myGovID. More trials will follow next year."

There was again no mention of who would provide the cloud hosting.