Within the framework of initiatives aimed at promoting the digital transformation of government services in all sectors, The Government of New Zealand is developing a 'digital procurement system' through several tools to guide and support government entities and employers in the procurement process. One of the most important initiatives within this project is the conflict of interest management tool and the application of contract preparation and reference systems. All these efforts aim to raise the quality of government services to the level of private sector services.
After the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic to public health, The New Zealand government has found that the efforts of ministries to develop digital government strategies should focus on improving data protection and supporting digital transformation policies. In addition to the urgent need to enhance the policy of government agencies and the technical capabilities of cadres. Despite the importance of public-private partnerships in innovation, Factors such as government leadership, strong institutions and effective public policies remain, the basis for designing solutions that are truly capable of addressing challenges, and meet the needs, In a way that ensures the achievement of safety and fairness and the protection of users' rights.
As part of the New Zealand government's efforts to improve its services and raise the quality of its innovations to the level of the private sector, Recently turned to employing technology and digitization in modernizing procurement processes, All ministries, led by the Ministry of Internal Revenue and the Government Procurement Department of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, collaborated to launch a digital e-procurement system to support government agencies and business owners.
The New Zealand Government hopes that this project will overcome the challenges posed by traditionally time-consuming procurement methods. Where the submission of a tender offer requires the supplier to find the advertisement and contact the advertiser or write to it to request documents, Then receive, fill and deliver them on paper within a series of time-consuming transactions, and leave a large margin of error, A minor error or delay in mail delivery may result in a failed purchase.
For this reason, The government has recently introduced a series of modifications and improvements to digital procurement processes to allow for greater participation by agencies of all affiliations. Where several projects were launched, Such as the adoption of the procurement form automation system, Providing a digital tool to manage the phenomenon of "conflict of interest", i.e. the conflict of interests of one entity with another, whether it is a government or private entity. To avoid this, A set of digital tools within the project facilitate the stages of the procurement process, such as evaluating proposals, managing supplier relationships, and executing contracts. In addition, Digital libraries have been established to collect the recognized texts of laws with their clauses, articles and formulations, To guide different parties on the most common documents and contract forms. In addition to strengthening a procurement reference system used by various government, semi-government and trade union entities. Further digital tools are also being studied to assist entities and schools in evaluating tender announcements, managing contracts and supplier relations.
These projects are still in the initial pilot phase, At the end of the experiment, the success of the experiment will be evaluated based on the results and challenges.
It is expected that the digital procurement system will allow entities and schools to communicate and record procurement processes electronically to manage any conflicts of interest between them. By establishing digital libraries of laws, Organizations can shorten legal review time and reduce the margin of error and associated risks. As for the reference procurement system, It allows procurement operations to be carried out on a secure platform by including new features for whistleblowering, A better user experience reduces time and effort and helps to choose the most appropriate tools according to needs. Furthermore, Providing public service digitally gives it the opportunity to progress and reach the level of the private sector in terms of speed and quality, This means pushing the government sector to innovate new ways of working and providing services safely. Especially in light of the growing importance of data protection in the digital space.
After the establishment of the cooperative marketplace, which offers similar agreements for large and increasing numbers of services to facilitate access and rapid implementation, A new application that creates contracts is currently being tested for release. These agreements save the balance sheet by offering shortcut purchases.
The overall objective of the project is to overcome the challenges facing business owners, and providing a seamless user experience, by enabling them to access the necessary information in a timely manner, In addition to improving procurement processes within government agencies to make them more efficient, effective and transparent. This digital transformation also aims to strengthen a data-driven framework and increase access to useful ones. To generate effective insights and ideas.
References:
https://www.procurement.govt.nz/about-us/news/digital-procurement-programme/
