The Department of Finance has announced a first for Western Australia with the launch of the Procurement Capability Development Strategy 2022-2025.
The result of collaborative work between Finance and the Procurement Leaders Steering Group comprising of senior representatives from more than 20 WA Government agencies, the Strategy will provide a consistent and transparent approach for improving procurement capability across all WA Government Agencies and every type of procurement.
According to Finance the vision is for the WA Government to have a highly professional procurement workforce with the skills, knowledge, and experiences needed to deliver on the WA community’s expectations, whether they be state-of-the-art hospitals, a comprehensive and efficient metropolitan rail network, or the paying of bills through customer centric web-based systems.
Welcoming the Strategy the Minister for Finance, Tony Buti said the Government was the largest employer in the State, purchasing $16 billion worth of goods, services and works from thousands of businesses every year.
“As such, it is vital, we commit to the best possible procurement practices to ensure quality outcomes for the Western Australian community,” Dr Buti said.
“By investing in a capable workforce and engaging the procurement function early in a project, we can reduce the likelihood of time delays, budget increases and reduced quality,” he said.
“Importantly, the way we undertake procurement is evolving.”
Director-General of Finance, Jodi Cant praised the collaborators who produced the Strategy saying it provides a consistent and transparent approach for improving procurement capability across all WA Government agencies and every type of procurement.
“Together, they created the Strategy to help improve capability across the public sector, with Finance leading and coordinating the implementation,” Ms Cant said.
“The Strategy’s introduction is timely,” she said.
“Last year, for the first time, WA Government procurement processes were unified in a single framework through the enaction of the Procurement Act 2020 and implementation of the Western Australian Procurement Rules.”
She said this heralded a new approach to procurement which has been complemented by the introduction of WA’s first Social Procurement Framework and a new Agency Capability Framework being implemented by the Public Service Commission.
The Strategy has five central pillars:
Pillar 1: Leadership
Pillar 2: Workforce strategy
Pillar 3: Culture and performance
Pillar 4: Systems, processes and tools
Pillar 5: Targeted capability initiatives
Further information about the Procurement Capability Development Strategy 2022-2025 and its pillars can be accessed at this PS News link.
