Stephen Withers
Thursday, 19 June 2008 14:18
IT Industry -
Deals
Page 2 of 2
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.