The Victorian Government’s announcement of its new eServices Panel has prompted an angry response from the IT companies shut out from government tenders.

 

The new eServices Panel, which commenced on July 1 and applies for three years, comprises a mandatory list of 188 service providers for IT management, strategy and analysis, architecture and design, systems and solutions, web hosting, and training. It does not apply to the purchase of software, hardware, licences or augmentation of general staffing requirements.

 

A number of major companies, including Microsoft, Orale, PriceWaterhouse Coopers, Melbourne IT and Technology One, and some with long-standing business links with the Victorian Government have been excluded from the list of companies eligible to tender for government work.

 

Minister for Technology, Gordon Rich-Phillips addressed the Victorian State iAwards on Wednesday July 7, saying the panel was being evaulated and that 'flexibility remained' in the outcome.

 

In a letter to the Australian Financial Review, the former Victorian ICT Minister, Marsha Thomson, has accused the Liberal government of undermining the panel’s purpose.

 

“The eServices Panel was set up in 2003  to provide an opportunity for small and medium-sized enterprises to access government contracts,” she wrote.

 

It was considered too expensive for many SMEs to tender for contracts under $1 million so many did not try. The eServices Panel made it easier for both industry and the government, with more than 70 per cent of all contracts awarded going to Victorian companies worth $30 million in the first three years..

 

“The new panel has shut the door to these companies and has reversed the reason behind its establishment.”

 

Ms Thomson pointed out that “If 100 companies that have been removed from the panel have on average five people employed on Victorian government work then it is highlty conceivable that 500 jobs could be lost.  This does not include new start-up companies or companies wishing to invest in Australia, which will not have access to Victorian government contracts for the next three years.”

 

More information about the Victorian eServices Panel is here.