The Government is calling for proposals from information technology suppliers for the e-procurement project to shift Government agencies to buying consumables on-line.

State Services Minister Trevor Mallard said a provider, to run a pilot is expected to be signed-up before the end of the year. The pilot will see Inland Revenue, Work and Income, the New Zealand Fire Service, Treasury, and the Ministry of Fisheries, buy some of their consumables on-line. It will run until June 2002.

“Then the Government will make a decision as to whether to roll-out e-procurement more widely,” Trevor Mallard said.

“There are potential savings to the taxpayer, from departments buying co-operatively and collectively. A survey by the State Services Commission late last year showed that departments spent about $1,252 million annually on buying goods and services (excluding capital spending and specialised goods, such as military equipment).

“The Government is confident that e-procurement can bring savings in those costs. E-procurement is also part of the Government’s wider aim of getting departments and agencies to work together more.

"E-procurement is intended to assist departments to buy non-specialised consumable goods and services. It will see departments and agencies consolidate their procurement requirements, in some situations, to optimise purchasing power. It will also see electronic enablement of the supply process, from ordering to payment.

“The system is best-suited to a proportion of the spending of departments and agencies. It’s unlikely that specialised services, like consultancy for example, can be bought on-line, or that large capital items will be bought on-line.

"E-procurement, by the Government, will encourage New Zealand companies to go on-line in order to serve Government agencies. That means another big step in taking New Zealand commerce and New Zealand companies into the e-economy,” Trevor Mallard said.

The Request For Proposal documentation and information about the
E-government programme is available at www.e-government.govt.nz.

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