Judging by the level of interest shown at the recent NZRise member’s event, Government Procurement as presented by the team from MBIE is a very popular topic in the market.
On Wednesday 28th August, NZRise together with ITP offered up the topic of the 4th Edition of the Government Procurement Rules as a meet for NZRise and ITP members. Presented by the MBIE team of Karen English – Manager Government Procurement Policy and Peta Baily-Gibson – Senior Policy Advisor, the session walked through the 4th Edition of the Government Procurement Rules, with a focus on the changes relevant to New Zealand businesses, particularly ICT and those with a Maori or Pasifika focus. NZRise has been engaging heavily with MBIE on the new edition of the rules. While NZRise feels that more could be done, it welcomes the changes that have been made. With the 4th Edition of the rules are set to be implemented on 1st October 2019, many agencies are actively including the 4th Edition of the Rules in their procurement processes now.
For many in the room, this was the first time that they were able to hear directly from MBIE on the procurement focus on Broader Outcomes for New Zealanders, together with the Government Procurement Charter and Government’s expectations of suppliers. MBIE covered off the new reporting framework that is being implemented to give greater transparency on Government procurement activity and the new process of getting feedback on Government procurement activity on a tender by tender basis. Some interesting statistics were tabled – Government procurement accounts for $41 billion annually with individual agencies doing 97% of the procurement activity.
The MBIE presentation was followed by a brief Q&A – many of the questions echoing the NZRise call in interaction with Government on the need for greater procurement transparency – particularly when it comes to the use of panel supply agreements. MBIE reiterated that agencies needed to provide Annual Procurement Plans (APPs). Access to agency procurement people was discussed as was the NZRise role of acting as an advocate for members where needed on procurement matters. It is worth noting here that NZRise has been impressed with and appreciates the level of openness and access that MBIE has provided with respect to Government procurement matters. Those attending the session themselves were impressed by the presentation from MBIE and the commitment made by Peta and Karen to be available to talk further on the topic.
Download the MBIE presentation powerpoint as a pdf.
The 4th Edition of the Procurement Rules event was the first in a series of three that NZRise are hosting through to the end of 2019. Our next presentation – Diversity in the ICT workplace – takes place on 18th September 2019. Registration are open now. This is followed by a Government Agency CIO briefing on what do New Zealand owned ICT companies need to do to make themselves more attractive for Government ICT projects – where do Agency CIOs / CDOs see the risks and what do New Zealand ICT companies need to do to mitigate these risks.
Ngā mihi,