Corrupt Vic education tender "appalling"

Victorian bureaucrats "corrupted" the tender process of a failed online education platform, wasted up to $240 million and not one dollar has been recovered.

An Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission report has found evidence of process corruption, improper diversion of funds and conflicts of interest in the failed Ultranet project.

It says it will seek advice from the Office of Public Prosecutions on whether criminal charges can be pursued against those responsible for the "appalling waste".

Ultranet was an online learning portal meant to link teachers, students and parents but crashed on the day it was introduced to schools in 2010 and was ultimately scrapped in 2013.

Education Department secretary Gill Callister said she hoped the investigation signalled "the closure of a dark chapter in this department's history".

"This is failure that goes all the way to the top," she told reporters in Melbourne on Friday.

"I'm leading a complete overhaul of past practices, processes and culture to ensure we act with the utmost integrity".

Ms Callister said none of the lost money had been recouped and it will take "the next steps (of criminal prosecution) to see if that is possible."

She said senior employees involved in corruption had either been dismissed or resigned.

A corruption unit and whistleblower phone line have been introduced to keep the department honest in future.

The IBAC report, released on Friday, found the final spending figure far exceeded the initial $60 million contract.

IBAC estimates it cost between $127 million and $240 million, including $1.4 million spent on a launch day with professional singers and dancers.

"Taken singly, many of the actions and behaviours by these public servants would be of concern; taken together, they show a disturbing pattern of improper behaviour," IBAC Commissioner Stephen O'Bryan said in a statement.

Some bureaucrats had bought shares in CSG - an IT company with links to former Education Department deputy secretary Darrell Fraser - just before it won the Ultranet contract.

IBAC found department officials had a "singular preference" for CSG to win the Ultranet contract, despite serious concerns about its credentials.

In a statement, CSG denied that it and its officers had "done anything wrong" and said it provides continuous compliance training for its staff.