The West Australian government says its GovNext ICT procurement program is no longer needed and state government agencies will move to new ICT purchasing arrangements next year.
The government says the decision comes as public sector ICT moves to cloud based services.
The state government introduced GovNext in 2015-16 as part of a four-year Digital ICT strategy, signing contracts with three vendors in January 2017.
The program was delivered via a mandatory common use agreement for sourcing ICT services, offering a way for agencies to move away from owning and maintaining their ICT infrastructure to purchasing it as a service.
The initiative was designed to modernise ICT functionality and cut infrastructure spending, but finance minister Sue Ellery says the program has achieved its objectives and now it’s time to move on.
The government will start working on the conditions of the new ICT services contracts this year and advertise tender opportunities in early 2024.
Public sector IT procurement shifting
Ms Ellery says there have been considerable shifts in public sector purchasing behaviour in the six years the program has been operating, as public sector agencies move away from procuring static ICT infrastructure to investing in cloud-based services.
“GovNext has achieved its objective of changing public sector purchasing behaviours to deliver consistency in ICT procurement across State Government agencies,” Ms Ellery said.
“The public sector’s decision-making for ICT investment has matured, moving away from legacy ICT systems and practices and is now adopting common digital approaches across agencies, meaning GovNext is no longer required.
“The Department of Finance will work with other State Government agencies to develop ICT contracts that are fit for purpose, create more choice for services and deliver more flexible outcomes.”
Government agencies will be required to continue purchasing using GovNext arrangements until April 2024.
At the time GovNext was released, the government estimated it would cut up to $82 million from its annual $170 million ICT infrastructure spend, a figure found to be ‘overstated’ in a 2019 auditor general’s report.
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