In 2019–20, the Victorian Government Purchasing Board (VGPB) continued to oversee the deliverables from the 2017–18 procurement reform, while also publishing buyer guidance to address and publicise cybersecurity and information security risks.
While some procurement teams were still dealing with the aftermath of the Victorian bushfires, we found ourselves in the midst of a global pandemic. Both events required immediate government response and created challenges for procurement.
Our goods and services supply policies include critical incident procurement protocols to enable government to quickly respond to any emergency, crisis or disaster by adopting streamlined and flexible procurement processes, while also maintaining high standards, specific recordkeeping processes and adhering to contract disclosure requirements. This annual report includes a summary of critical incident procurement contract approvals in 2019–20.
We are seeing considerable momentum in the use of procurement technology, which helps make procurement more efficient and provides the data to drive better value-for-money outcomes, connectivity and economies of scale. The rollout of the procurement data centre and the spend data analytics project will give us important insights into what government is purchasing.
Cybersecurity was a big focus during the year, and we have updated our goods and services policies to ensure that cyber risk management becomes part of everyday best practice procurement.
We recognise the work of our many stakeholders, and particularly chief procurement officers, in progressing this and many other pieces of work throughout 2019–20.
I would like to thank outgoing VGPB member, Craig Rooney. Craig contributed immensely over his eight-year tenure and we wish him well with his future endeavours.
Once again, the Procurement Policy and Reform team in the Department of Treasury and Finance worked hard to support the VGPB and deliver our procurement goals.
As our steering committee role for the procurement reform program draws to a close, I’m proud of our accomplishments over the last three years. We have set new priorities for 2020–23 which reflect our commitment to being at the forefront of improving procurement across government.
Antoinette Brandi
Chair, Victorian Government Purchasing Board
Reviewed 30 September 2021