Small businesses are telling the Digital Transformation Agency they haven't been able to find work on the government's online marketplace for IT contracts, its boss Gavin Slater says.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Mr Slater told a Senate estimates hearing on Tuesday he wanted to increase their participation in government work and, in light of results, was not satisfied with the level of performance for Digital Marketplace.
He also said the DTA needed to do more work with agencies that tended to award contracts to the same companies, educating them about other options when choosing IT contractors.
"My view is that there is still a significant amount of work to be done with those individuals making those purchasing decisions in those agencies," he said.
Mr Slater said considering the number of companies registered on Digital Marketplace and the value of contracts being awarded, the "conversion rate" for businesses winning work was low.
"When we engage with industry, not surprisingly all companies, those that haven't done business with government yet want to do business with government, and those that are doing business with government want to do more business," Mr Slater said.
"There will always be that underlying theme. The question for me still is how can we increase the participation rate."
Small to medium businesses had told the DTA that while they were registered on Digital Marketplace, which is in Beta stage development, they had found no government work through it.
Labor senator Jenny McAllister said a survey result showed while businesses were finding non-IT government work, they were having less success with tech-related contracts.
She quoted co-founder of Brisbane-based tech company RedEye, Wayne Gerard, who said he had found no opportunities on Digital Marketplace for start-ups.
The DTA wanted to expand the scope of products that were procured through the digital marketplace beyond labour and skills, Mr Slater said.
He said the agency had made short-term interventions including by standardising contract terms and heads of agreement, but that it was hard to say when the government's IT procurement reforms could be deemed a success.
The federal government moved last year to cap the value of IT contracts in a radical rethink of its $10 billion tech spending that aimed to bring more smaller firms into projects.
It capped government IT contracts to departments at $100 million or three years in length in a bid to force them to consider smaller firms lacking cash to compete for larger projects to upgrade digital services.
