Federal government procurement of information technology products and services is a massive potential lever for industrial policy. Depending on how those dollars are directed, that purchasing power can make a huge difference to the ongoing development of Australian capability.
InnovationAus.com wants to hear from companies that sell tech products to the public sector. What has your experience been? And how can procurement practices be modified or updated to improve the capability of the local industry?
With the election of the Albanese Government, a spotlight has been put on public sector procurement, with a promise to create a ‘Made in Australia’ Office to better harness government spending as an economic driver, maximising the use of local products.
You can have your say on the shape of procurement policy through the InnovationAus Selling to Government 2022 survey. If you sell to government, we want to better understand your experience, to hear what works and what needs to be improved. Participants have until midnight on Friday October 7 to complete the survey.
The survey results, including the specific comments of individuals and companies, will be anonymised and packaged into a report for distribution to policymakers and published to InnovationAus.com.
As a participant in the survey, you will have early access to the Selling to Government 2022 results.
And you will have contributed to a positive project that aims to inform the procurement process, and to identify ways in which government can use its buying power to improve industrial policy and economic outcomes for all Australians.
The survey is short and sharp. It takes about ten minutes to complete. There are plenty of opportunities through the survey to leave specific comments and suggestions.
Governments around the world use public sector purchasing power to boost capability in their domestic markets. It is a common practice to use strategic procurement to build industrial capability. This has especially been the case in recent years as the pandemic and changed geopolitical circumstances have exposed international supply chains.
With the change of government at the federal level, Australia now has a fresh opportunity to look at how it buys its information technology products and services – representing spending of $9 billion to $10 billion annually.
In addition to encouraging anecdotal insights of the experience of companies selling to government, we have also included a couple of questions that explore specific themes.
First, we are interested to understand if there is a gap between companies that have successfully applied for a government grant to develop a product – and have passed all the due diligence and capability assessments that accompany these grants schemes – but have subsequently been unsuccessful in selling an appropriate product to government.
We want understand the experience of these companies that may have had success selling into export markets, but have struggled to find government as a customer in this country.
Secondly, we are interested to measure and understand what and how SMEs are selling to government, how often these sales contain locally developed intellectual property, and whether these sales are direct, through a reseller, or as a subcontractor to a larger prime.
Thirdly, there is room to assess the performance of government as a customer. Does the public sector have the internal technical skills and procurement capability?
InnovationAus.com has been a long-time follower of technology procurement practices. The aim of this Selling to Government survey 2022 is to provide a positive voice to government as it looks to reset its procurement practices. You can access the survey here.
Do you know more? Contact James Riley via Email.