Coalition would combine IT, 80 other procurement panels: report

An elected Coalition government would target administrative overheads by combining more than 80 government procurement panels, to just one overreaching Commonwealth procurement panel with broad responsibilities and huge scale, reports have suggested.

In an interview with IT industry journal iTNews, shadow parliamentary secretary to the leader of the Opposition Arthur Sinodinos flagged the changes as a way of trimming nearly $1 billion in administrative expenditure from a Tony Abbott-led government.

The reformed procurement panel would be led by a ministerial advisory council comprising business, not-for-profit and consumer advocates, with the body administered by the Department of Finance. Staffing changes were yet to be determined, but Sinodinos confirmed that savings from staff redeployment were on the cards.

The July 2 launch of Victoria's eServices Register by Victorian ICT Minister Gordon Rich-Phillips highlights the Coalition's commitment to procurement reform.

Although IT was recognised as being a particularly specialised area of procurement, Sinodinos said it would be singled out as an area where particular arrangements might need to be made to ensure procedural integrity would be preserved.

“We’re conscious the Government have made decisions about how to do IT that hasn’t [sic] always gone as according to plan,” he told iTNews.

The announcement comes on the heels of the July 2 launch by Victoria’s Coalition government of a new eServices Register, which will replace the state’s eServices Panel and ticks off a significant element of the state’s Victorian Government ICT Strategy.

That register is based on the private-sector Ariba Nework and is now mandatory for use by government departments and agencies. By aggregating all IT suppliers into a common procurement interface, state minister for ICT Gordon Rich-Phillips said it will “provide a simplified process for Victorian ICT companies bidding for government work, and allow the Victorian Government to make more informed purchasing decisions from a greater range of suppliers as well as monitor the range and scope of eServices engagements.” – David Braue