Got a grievance re: ICT procurement? Now you can vent your spleen directly via the new complaints email address...
The government has said that it will closely monitor a new email address dedicated to taking complaints from the IT industry.
The address – confidentialprocurement@dta.gov.au – has been set up to encourage tech biz types and stakeholders to message MP Angus Taylor, assistant minister for Cities and Digital Transformation, about the barriers they face when dealing with government.
And this time, it seems, it’s personal: Taylor is taking individual responsibility for the point of contact.
“An email mailbox will be made public for industry to confidentially contact me about the real barriers they face,” said Taylor at an event last Friday. “I promise to review this and, for those issues that aren’t just competitor gripes, to aggressively seek solutions”.
Taylor said that the government is getting more serious about finding solutions that will deliver ICT benefits more quickly and effectively for partners and end users alike.
“I think we have made it clear how important the partnership with industry is for us,” Taylor said. “I mean it when I say, we have to be porous.”
And, he added, “I think if the industry uses this service well, it can be incredibly powerful.”
The move comes as a part of a larger rethink of the way ICT projects are delivered, including reforms to procurement and investment, improvements to the troubled myGov project and the announcement of a forthcoming ‘digital identity solution’ for Australian citizens.
In August the Labour party called for an enquiry into the spiralling costs and multiple ICT project failures of the federal government. That demand won cross bench support, with the Finance and Public Administration Committee now accepting submissions to its “Digital delivery of government services” inquiry, with a report due on 4 December.
