Rewarding challenge
While he's keen to see the government adopt robust procurement processes, Data#3's Grant would like to see governments at all levels tackle other structural challenges, especially when it comes to the level of experience the government employees in different departments and agencies.
"There are two elements that need to combine to create a successful and effective government tender," Grant said. "The first is a procurement process which is inclusive and competitive, and the second is that it is conducted and managed by capable people, so that it becomes a partnership and not a confrontation."
So while the rewards can be great, tackling government procurement at a state and federal level requires a commitment not just to the initial bidding process, but ongoing marketing, reviews, and negotiation resources. In some states there's always room for resellers, in others there's temporary gaps in the market for new government suppliers, and many times there's little chance for smaller bidders to even participate.
And as with all new business opportunities, the best way to win government work is to start out by looking at how the local market is structured, and finding out where your options lie.
1) COST CONTAINMENT Earlier this year the Rudd Government revealed almost $650 million in spending cuts, and technology is unlikely to be exempt from the impact of this. Government CIOs should use value impact analysis as an integral part of their cost containment strategies, because this will help position them better to defend decisions downstream.
2) WEB 2.0 / E-GOVERNMENT Web 2.0 technologies offer government great opportunities for improved citizen-centricity and participation, but they need to be handled with care because they challenge some of the assumptions that have informed e-government strategies for the past 10 years.
3) SOURCING AND SHARED SERVICES As pressure grows to reduce IT costs and improve the quality of service, more governments are looking at various approaches toward consolidation, centralised procurement and shared services. Each of these offers benefits over the distributed environment that exists in most places but largely because of governance, the benefits are not always achieved.
4) CENTRALISED IT Many governments around the world have undertaken or are attempting to undertake centralisation of their IT. Resistance against such initiatives is growing, as efforts to take a more appropriately non-centralised stance mount.
5) IT MODERNISATION Gartner's research shows that CIOs in mature markets, in most industries including government and financial services, are struggling to cope with a legacy technology portfolio in which an overwhelming percentage of the systems need to be retired and replaced within a comparatively short period of time - between 2008 and 2015 - driven by the need to deal with technology or skills obsolescence.
6) TALENT MANAGEMENT AND IT SKILLS SHORTAGES Whether it be the ageing of our workforce, the rise of 'digital natives' in Generation Y or the lure of the big private sector money, government is struggling to retain needed IT staff and to recruit people with the right skills for the future. A huge problem is government salaries. But, that's not the only problem or the only solution.
Source: Gartner research vice-president, Richard Harris
