Australian software vendor calls for end to whole of government ICT purchasing

Stephen Withers
Wednesday, 18 June 2008 10:17

IT Industry - Strategy

Panel arrangements also mean individual departments are not forced to accept 'one size fits all' solutions that may not be appropriate for their specific purposes.

The makeup of any such panel should be regularly reviewed to weed out products that are no longer technically sound, cost effective or able to provide appropriate functionality.

Di Marco was also critical of the way sunk costs are factored into purchasing decisions as that locks in the incumbent system. He claims there have been been a number of instances where government departments and agencies had thrown good money after bad by trying to fix legacy solutions instead of transitioning to new systems that would meet their requirements well into the future.

Secondly, and not surprisingly, Di Marco has advised the review that government requirements for back-office systems can be met by off-the-shelf products.

"Off-the-shelf products can largely meet the Federal Government’s ICT requirements provided these products have a proven track record, can be easily configured to meet Government needs, and cater specifically for Australian conditions such as changes in legislative requirements for human resources and payroll," he said.

Finally, Di Marco recommended that independent consultants involved in the selection of solutions for government should not be allowed to subsequently provide any services for these projects.

Such situations aren't unknown in Australia. In 2005, the state government of Victoria awarded the contract for a new smartcard-based public transport ticketing system (now known as Myki) to a company that had previously received consultancy fees for advising on the type of system that should be introduced.