$5M Cyber Insurance?

BidWiz was interested to see the response to a clarification question in a recent State Government tender which asked the following:

Can I please have clarification that minimum $5million cyber insurance is required. The cost of this level of insurance is cost prohibitive for many small to medium businesses.

As an SME business, we 100% agree that the cost of cyber insurance is prohibitive. It means we are unlikely to bid for work we know we can do because we cannot make it worth our while financially.

On the other hand, we understand that:

As successful Suppliers will be responsible for the handling and protection of Personal Information, which includes Client Records and Health Information of Eligible Clients, cyber liability insurance is required.

I guess the question becomes: is there some middle ground?

Government - Local, State and Federal - won’t be happy with increased pass through costs as a result of suppliers having to have $5M cyber insurance. At the same time, suppliers simply cannot make a profit if they are required to absorb cyber insurance premiums as part of the service.

If the Government is serious with its target of supporting SME businesses, we need to sit down and work this out.

BidWiz