Data and systems project update - GETS dashboard and what's next

Liz Palmer:

So I want to talk a little bit about our data mahi. Historically we've been unable to answer basic questions around how government spends its taxpayer money. And when I say spending, I don't just mean on what and with whom but actually how we spend that money. Are our projects delivered on time? Are they delivered to budget? And not just is that money achieving that sort of that public spend value but actually what additional value are we getting out of that? Are we delivering on the policy intent that we set with procurement and actually achieving those outcomes that are critical for New Zealand?

We know as the functional lead for procurement that we need to do better, so we're actually choosing to do something about that. Currently we've got quite a lot of data. We've got data relating to the All-of-Government contracts, we've got data relating to tender activity on the Government Electronic Tender Service - GETS. We have information in additional ad hoc data sets, such as the Procurement Capability Index and we also know that some of our agencies hold data.

So what we don't have is a way to bring all of that rich data together to be able to complete that puzzle and share it meaningfully to derive insights and actually make changes to the way that government agencies make their decision making when it comes to spending that taxpayer money.

So our first step is to publish a GETS dashboard.

What we're doing with this dashboard is taking data that is from the GETS system and actually making it interactive and easier to use, so that you can at a glance start to see patterns of behaviour with GETS tendering activities.

We need to get comfortable with our data being open by default. We know it's a massive behavioural change across government but it's critical to the success of our data and transparency mahi. And we need this to really transform the way that government procures goods across the system, delivering value for taxpayers, businesses and government.

This is just the beginning of using data to gain insights into procurement practice and spending patterns. What we need to do from here is develop a data governance framework. This will allow us to start to understand the reporting requirements on agencies, on stakeholders and across the system, and start to understand what it is that we need to be able to appropriately track all the outcomes that we’re trying to achieve.

So keep an eye on our website to look for opportunities to have your say in the future of government procurement.