Page 3458 - Week 08 - Thursday, 23 August 2012
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Teleconferencing technology is improving and becoming cheaper. Shared Services needs to take steps so that this technology is more readily available to the public service either through small services at workstations or even shared services which directorate staff can book for teleconferencing.
Shared Services should be more active in supporting the implementation of other energy efficiency initiatives, such as speeding up connecting government smart meters and sub-meters to the internet. If the government’s sustainability data management system is to obtain its full potential then Shared Services needs to get actively and positively involved in adding meters to help the government measure and manage its own energy use, and in particular, of course, its ICT energy use.
Volume 3 of the estimates committee report includes a short paper from the Centre for International Economics entitled “Efficient pricing principles for shared services”. This is a short but interesting discussion on various models, or life stages, of shared services. It states:
It is only once the Shared Services organisation has matured and achieved its own efficiencies that a better understanding of the overall organisational efficiencies may be had, and more complex charging and cost allocation arrangements may be implemented.
It might now be time that Shared Services can move from being an operation which provides mandated services to a situation where it is the first choice for government agencies on a range of voluntary services. The CIE report describes these services as “includes professional and advisory services; separation of governance and service functions; services charged out to recover fully loaded costs; and objective to reduce costs and improve service quality”.
We do know that ACT government agencies do not go to Shared Services for a range of ICT related activities, yet you would hope Shared Services would be the first port of call for all procurements of ICT. I am also concerned about the lack of funds to progress a whole-of-government information management system. Getting this right could potentially improve security, productivity and communication across agencies.
I now turn to procurement. The ACT contracts register shows Shared Services Procurement is allowing directorates to undertake single select procurement where the costs of the activity exceed $200,000. But under its own procurement rules, any procurement exceeding $200,000 should have been undertaken using a public tender process. This makes it likely that value for money is not being achieved through current government procurement processes. This is also an area where there should be more transparency.
We see evidence of this in the operating budget. Shared Services is supposed to operate on a cost recovery basis, but Shared Services Procurement is both receiving a direct payment from the government and having an expected surplus of $6 million. Neither of these should happen for an agency running on a cost recovery basis. An issue here is that Shared Services Procurement charges agencies a flat four per cent of capital costs in contracts it manages on their behalf. This four per cent fee is regardless of the actual cost of providing the service.
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