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The Digital Transformation Agency’s (DTA) procurement of ICT related services will be coming under scrutiny as the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) seeks to assess its effectiveness.
The new audit’s criteria, which is due to be tabled in September next year, will delve into whether the DTA has established a sound procurement framework, if procurements were conducted effectively and how they managed contracts.
The DTA has come under ANAO’s scrutiny in the past.
In August last year, the Audit office asked the DTA to ensure its officials brush up on federal procurement requirements after a review of IT panel arrangements showed it did not comply with all of the Commonwealth Procurement Rules (CPRs) — the basic rule set for all Commonwealth procurements.
It did however adopt a number of sound practices outlined in Department of Finance guidance when establishing the Digital Marketplace panel.
Regardless, its approach did not support the achievement of a value for money outcome or treat suppliers equitably, according to ANAO.
These findings were the result of ANAO closely examining three procurement arrangements, the DTA’s Digital Marketplace panel and its $1 billion-plus IBM Whole-of-Australian Government Arrangement, along with the now defunct IT Services Panel established by the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications.
For its part, at the time, the DTA agreed with ANAO’s findings and the recommendations, and said it would continue to take steps to improve the establishment and management of its panels.
The Digital Marketplace was first announced in December 2015 as part of the federal government’s National Innovation and Science Agenda and later went live in beta in August 2016.
Designed to help smaller IT providers to compete for government work, the Digital Marketplace had, as of August 2020, awarded more than $2.2 billion in contracts over four years, with the value of deals doubling since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
