Government procurement, a division of MBIE, is changing the way agencies report upcoming opportunities to make constant updates possible via the government tenders website, GETS.
“Procurement is more effective when you provide an early heads up to suppliers about upcoming opportunities,” a post on the government procurement website says.
“It allows businesses to understand the potential pipeline of work coming from buyers and prepare in advance.”
A new structure called “future procurement opportunities” will therefore replace current annual procurement plans.
Work is underway to shift to the new structure by 1 October.
Currently agencies report future procurement opportunities twice a year through an excel spreadsheet.
That will be replaced by an online, real-time system to allow agencies to inform the market of upcoming procurement opportunities via a new form in the government electronic tender service (GETS).
That will allow agencies to notify suppliers of an opportunity as soon as it is identified.
An notification is not a commitment to procure the goods or services, but signals intended future activity to the market.
Notifications should be updated as the opportunity moves through the planning stages and becomes more certain.
Suppliers will be able to view and follow the opportunity as soon as it is published in GETS and to track it and receive a notification when a tender or other mechanism is advertised.
Agencies can also identify and engage with interested suppliers early in the process.
Agencies should enter opportunities into GETS as soon as practicable and these would be viewable by suppliers immediately.
The post goes on to explain the impact of the change on procurement rules, here.
A future procurement opportunities notification, for instance, is not required if an agency is carrying out a secondary procurement such as purchasing from an existing panel contract, all-of-government, syndicated or common capability contract or if they are doing an “opt out” procurement.
