[LINK] Sustainable ICT Procurement for Canberra

Tom Worthington tom.worthington at tomw.net.au
Mon Mar 1 08:09:25 AEDT 2010


I will be giving evidence to the ACT Legislative Assembly Public
Accounts Committee, 9:30 am, 4 March 2010 on "Sustainable ICT
Procurement":
<http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2009/08/sustainable-ict-procurement.html>.

This is in Committee Room 1 of the Legislative assembly, London Circuit,
Canberra, as part of an Inquiry into ACT Government Procurement:
<http://www.legassembly.act.gov.au/committees/index1.asp?committee=116&inquiry=812&category=13>.

The public are welcome to attend and I would appreciate some moral support.

The hearing is timely as I have been trying to get myself off the
ACT Government tender mailing list. The problem is that each week the
government sends a message saying that there are tender opportunities
available, but not what they are. Other governments allow you to
register for a specific category of tender (such as ICT) and then send
you details just of those. I have been trying to get myself off the ACT
Government list, but no one there seems to be reading their mail.
Perhaps they are getting ready for the committee hearing. ;-)


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Submission to the Inquiry into ACT Government Procurement

     This is a submission to the ACT Legislative Assembly Standing
Committee on Public Accounts (1) for the Inquiry into ACT Government
Procurement (2).

     The submission addresses the following terms of reference (3),
largely with respect to the use and procurement of computers and
telecommunications (ICT):

"2. the integration of sustainability considerations that encompass
environmental, economic and social aspects throughout procurement processes
3. agency approaches to procurement training and development activities
4. ability of local suppliers to compete for ACT Government
procurement opportunities"


Integration of sustainability considerations in procurement processes

     It is suggested that the ACT Government should work with the
federal government and other state and local government on common
sustainability standards for procurement of government ICT. The federal
departments of Environment and Finance are working on green ICT
standards at present.

     It is suggested that the ACT should propose to work with the
Commonwealth and other jurisdictions. It is suggested that this be done
by using the federal finance department's GovDex system (4). This will
allow federal, state and local government officials to participate in
joint working parties without the need for face-to-face meetings. It is
suggested that there be also participation by industry representatives.
The aim should be to release green ICT guidelines by the end of 2009.


Agency approaches to procurement training and development activities

     It is suggested that ACT government agencies should make use of
flexible and e-learning for procurement training, using nationally
accredited courses. The Canberra Institute of Technology (5) (CIT) is a
leader in the field of the development and delivery of such courses and
could provide for the ACT Government's needs. In addition other
organisations run specialised courses, as an example I have designed a
course in Green ICT, including ICT procurement, versions of which are
delivered via the web by the Australian National University (6) and the
Australian Computer Society (7).


Ability of local suppliers to compete for ACT Government procurement
opportunities

     It is suggested that the ACT Government's online tender system (8)
be upgraded to provide similar facilities to the Australian Government
AusTender (9) and NZ Government GETS (10) Systems. In particular the
system should allow a small business to register for a particular
category of tender and automatically receive an email message advising
of tenders in that category. Also once registered, the business should
be able to obtain details of a specific tender via the ACT Government's
web site without needing to reenter all their contact details.

     At present the ACT Government display tenders online and sends a
weekly message advising new tenders are available. However, the message
does not indicate if there are any tenders the particular business might
be interested in. The business has to look through all the new tenders.
In contrast the Australian and NZ systems allow a particular category to
be registered for, such as computer related tenders. The business then
can look at that specific tender.

     At present the business has to reenter all its contact details in
order to download a tender from the ACT tender web site. In contrast the
Australian and NZ systems only requiring registering this information once.

     Tom Worthington
     24 July 2009

     PO Box 13
     Belconnen ACT 2617

     http://www.tomw.net.au/

1 Standing Committee on Public Accounts, Legislative Assembly for the
ACT, 2009:
<http://www.parliament.act.gov.au/committees/index1.asp?committee=116>
2 Inquiry into ACT Government Procurement, Legislative Assembly for the
ACT, 7/05/2009:
<http://www.legassembly.act.gov.au/committees/index1.asp?committee=116&inquiry=812&category=13>
3 Terms of reference, Inquiry into ACT Government Procurement,
Legislative Assembly for the ACT, 2009:
<http://www.legassembly.act.gov.au/downloads/terms-of-reference/ToR%20Government%20Procurement.pdf>
4 Welcome to GovDex, Department of Finance and Deregulation, 2009:
<https://www.govdex.gov.au/user/index.do>
5 Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT), 2009: <http://www.cit.act.edu.au/>
6 COMP7310: Green ICT Strategies, ANU, 2009:
<http://cs.anu.edu.au/students/comp7310/>
7 Green ICT Strategies, ACS, 2009P:
<http://www.acs.org.au/cpeprogram/index.cfm?action=show&conID=greenict>
8 Open tenders, ACT Procurement Solutions, 2009:
<http://www.procurement.act.gov.au/tenders_advertised/open_tenders>
9 AusTender Homepage, Department of Finance and Deregulation , 2009:
<https://www.tenders.gov.au/>
10 New Zealand Government Electronic Tenders Service, Government
Procurement Development Group (GPDG) of the NZ Ministry of Economic
Development, 2009: <http://www.gets.govt.nz/default.aspx?show=HomePage>

---

-- 
Tom Worthington FACS HLM, TomW Communications Pty Ltd. t: 0419496150
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia  http://www.tomw.net.au
Adjunct Lecturer, The Australian National University t: 02 61255694
Computer Science http://cs.anu.edu.au/user/3890





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