News & Views
Better procurement, better results
 The
traditional model of procurement that government has previously
used needs to be reviewed, if SITA is to improve service
delivery to its clients. So said Jonas Bogoshi, CEO of GijimaAST
in his address on enhancing the strategic role of procurement in
the context of public sector service delivery.
“The purpose,” said Bogoshi, “is first and foremost to identify
the challenges inherent in traditional procurement models.” He
explained that a number of models had been explored, and that it
was clear sourcing had moved from functional competency to
become core to company strategy.
The dilemma of traditional procurement is based on generally
complex specifications and proposals that are judged mainly on
cost and the conformance to specifications.
Bogoshi said there was no difference between IT and other
products and services, and that the onus was on government to
define and document its own complex solution prior to
identifying vendors. “Government carries all the financial costs
of the project,” he said, “and the overall benefits to state are
not currently adjudicated.”
He said the structures of the traditional models were more at
risk of failing on implementation where the public service is
the customer and the private sector is the service provider.
When exploring alternative models, he said that the key
ingredients for the new model has to be solution orientated,
value-based adjudication, where the government and private
sector share the risks and rewards with a strategic partnership.
Bogoshi said there is currently no good representation of
modeling IT on the market maturity curve, because it takes 18
months to define the process. For example, in Australia a
comparative analysis between a public private partnership versus
a traditional model indicates a time overrun in the latter of
over 35%.
A relevant model to consider is the Virginia State Information
Technology Agency (VITA). Its model is based on transformation
and integration and the reinvestment of the savings into the
agency.
Bogoshi concluded that GijimaAST’s requirements are to
understand the needs and capacity for the private sector, to
capitalise on its strengths, and to ensure continuous deal flow
to encourage new service providers.
Lastly, he said the use of innovation was a means to deliver
service improvements and value for money, and to create
governance frameworks that are fit for a realistic business
model.
|
 |
 |
|
|
