Call to raise bar on ICT tender threshold
Call to raise bar on ICT tender threshold
The IT Council of South Australia has issued a plea to the SA government to raise the threshold for ICT tenders from its current level of $20,000 to $100,000 across the board.
The organisation, which was established to provide a single body within the state's ICT industry to focus on industry-wide issues, says that by forcing companies to prepare a tender for smaller contracts, government agencies are seriously impeding the growth of small to medium sized enterprises, and placing an unnecessary strain on their resources.
"Tendering for any government business can be an expensive process for any company," said Council chairman Phil Ingerson. "Spending $10,000 to win a contract worth perhaps no more than $30,000 is – for smallish companies – hardly a cost-effective exercise."
Ingerson went on: "The IT Council acknowledges the need for a tendering process for large jobs in excess of $100,000, but it seems an unnecessary and expensive process for small one-off jobs."
The IT Council's executive director, Denis Wall added that disparity across the various government agencies exacerbates the problem.
"We have found that different agencies act in different ways. Some agencies actually do have a higher threshold but other agencies stick to the $20,000 mark, and what we have said is we would like you to be consistent and all raise the bar."
Wall was also at pains to point out that it is not the Council's intention to criticise the government, but rather work closely with them to achieve a more practical system for its members.
"We are still in discussions with them. We are not having a cheap shot at government, but instead are working with them on it, but with government it is always a slow process, particularly when different agencies have different rules. It does make it difficult.
"The people we are dealing with are very understanding, but as they point out, they do not have jurisdiction over all government departments, so it makes it difficult for them to categorically state that they can all raise the bar. I think what they are going to do is encourage the various agencies to raise the bar, and I think we will see a breakthrough there, but it is a long process."
Wall said that for contracts worth under $100,000, the government agency concerned could turn to a registered list of IT companies, or even have an open declaration, after which the suitable candidates could be quickly whittled down.
"I think there are various ways to do all that, and we are working with the SA government on this."
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