NSW Government lambasted for awarding "wasteful" SAP contract

Stephen Withers
Thursday, 19 June 2008 15:18

IT Industry - Deals

The difference between Di Marco's recommendation to the Australian government and the NSW situation is that DI Marco believes such panels should be regularly reviewed to weed out products that are no longer technically sound, cost effective or able to provide appropriate functionality.

"In the last 15 years, technology has changed dramatically and there are a lot more options. The fact a full market review has not been done for 15 years not only goes against common sense, but also does not provide a competitive environment for the NSW taxpayer to be assured of getting value for money," he blasted.

Even though TechnologyOne has supplied software to the Victorian TAFE sector costing "a fraction of the $115 million allocated to the NSW Department of Education and Training's SAP project", it was not allowed to bid, Di Marco claimed.

The outspoken executive said the local industry is only asking for a level playing field where government business is concerned.

Di Marco has called for a full investigation of NSW IT procurement along the lines of the federal Gershon review: "NSW ICT procurement is draconian and needs to be dramatically overhauled," he said.

"The question that I ask is: 'Why would the NSW Government offer preferential treatment to large multi-nationals like Oracle and SAP, and blatantly disadvantage local ICT companies that have proven track records in Australia and overseas?'," he said.

And that is a very good question.