New Zealand Government Reviewing Procurement System.

It’s always encouraging when we see governments around the world looking to improve their procurement transparency and efficiency. The New Zealand Government has recently released a Cabinet report, outlining plans to reform the government procurement system. The New Zealand Government currently spends approximately  NZ$51.5bn (US$35.8bn) annually on goods and services.

Their procurement overhaul is based on three key pillars, 1.data and transparency 2.working together as one 3. unlocking value.

Improving data and transparency will ensure agencies and suppliers shift their procurement activities to a digital environment, speeding up the procurement process and providing insights on spending and procurement performance.

Working together as one will see the development of public/private working groups, with the aim or creating more accountable processes.

Through unlocking value the Government seeks to improving supplier relationship across government and the procurement management systems and processes.

The end goal is a digital ‘one stop shop’ procurement platform, “where information, tools and opportunities are all accessible, timely and targeted, making it easier for both agencies and suppliers to do business,” the report said.

The NZ Government is hoping to have at least the first piece of the new procurement system in place by the end of 2022, with at least the ability to review spend data, and analyse sector performance in place.

These are encouraging signs, and we’ve love to see the New Zealand Government build a national register through this process. Setting up a register that is maintained, has many benefits, including being able to better monitor the performance of suppliers, increasing competition and identifying cost  savings.

Using a technology like Silvereye would allow for the aggregation of contract data from across the public sector. There are benefits of linking spend to contracts as we discussed in our recent article on work being done by the  Slovenia Government , who are one of the few public administrations that routinely monitor contract overspend on all public contracts. What’s more, they’re doing it in the open. Legislation is currently being passed to mandate the publication of contract identifiers for every item of spending across government. It would be fantastic to see the New Zealand Government follow suit.

Feel free to get in touch, to discuss our global government procurement data, or our data API.