Output 9.3 Goods and Services Procurements

Output 9.3 Goods and Services Procurements

Overview

The directorate undertakes procurement activities on behalf of all government directorates and agencies for goods and services. It:

• advises the government on procurement;
• is responsible for the development and implementation of the government’s procurement related policies;
• administers online tendering and procurement support systems; and
• establishes and manages WoG contracts and panels.

The directorate administers the Smart Modern Strategic (SMS) Procurement Reform Program which aims to achieve better procurement outcomes across the WoG and deliver budget savings. By taking advantage of modern practices, leveraging cross jurisdictional arrangements, examining spend patterns and increasing purchasing power the SMS Program is able to deliver effective and efficient procurement outcomes across the Territory.

Highlights

During 2017–18 the directorate:

• continued the implementation of the SMS Procurement Reform Program to reform procurement and deliver savings across the ACT Government. This included consolidating the first stage of the program and developing a new set of initiatives to form the second stage of the program. Newly established WoG procurement arrangements for digital mail, contracted labour hire, advertising and creative services were transitioned to business as usual following their successful implementation in the previous financial year; and
• successfully migrated the Territory’s e-tendering system to an external host, achieving significant savings and increased responsiveness to evolving needs.

Testimonial

The Contractor Central Working Group was presented with the CMTEDD Staff Award in May 2018.

The Head of Service and Under Treasurer thanked the team for their hard work in reforming how directorates’ access contracted labour through recruitment agencies:

The directorate had one accountability indicator against this output:

• The proportion of contracts awarded to indigenous or social suppliers was 0.3%, against a target of 1%. The variance from the target arose from the following contributing factors:
  • the limited range of industries that local indigenous or social suppliers predominantly operate in relative to the range of goods and services required by the Territory; and
  • the disproportionally small number of identified indigenous business in the Canberra Region, coupled with the lower volumes of procurement that the Territory undertakes relative to other jurisdictions.

Future Direction

In 2018-19 the directorate will take leadership on:

• Government Procurement Act 2001;
• E-Tendering;
• annual procurement plans;
• Contracts Register;
• notifiable invoices;
• Local Industry Participation Policy; and
• Indigenous and Sustainable Procurement Policies.

In addition, in 2018–19 the directorate will continue to:

• work to ensure procurement reforms achieve greater value for money on all major goods and services procurements;
• implement the third phase of procurement reform projects under the SMS Procurement Reform Program;
• review and update the Sustainable Procurement Policy;
• develop and implement an Indigenous Procurement Policy in accordance with the CMTEDD Reconciliation Action Plan;
• assist the Local Industry Advocate in her role to undertake a 12 month review of the implementation of the Local Industry Participation Policy;
• roll out a number of significant WoG panel arrangements, including panel arrangements for stationery and office supplies, professional and consulting services, travel and accommodation;
• implement an enhanced simple procurement tool to allow the Territory to more robustly and efficiently undertake low value, low risk procurements. This may be coupled with a direct market place solution that will facilitate direct engagement of registered indigenous and social suppliers in government sourcing activities; and
• increase awareness of the Local Industry Participation Policy (LIPP) after it launched on
  1 January 2017. In the implementation, Goods and Services created and refined the tender response templates to assist tenderers demonstrate their local economic contribution as well as created tools to assist Territory officers to complete evaluations efficiently.

Further information can be obtained from

Shaun Strachan
Deputy Under Treasurer
Commercial Services and Infrastructure
+ 61 2 6207 1001
Shaun.Strachan@act.gov.au

Daniel Bailey
Executive Director
Procurement, Property and Venues
+ 61 2 6207 5618
Daniel.Bailey@act.gov.au