New South Wales Councils now have the opportunity to purchase goods and services online using one program. Local-e Online Action for the NSW e-Procurement project is an initiative of the Local Government Association of NSW and the Shires Association of NSW (LGSA), in association with the Australian Government’s Networking the Nation (NTN) program.
About 50 Councils now have the facility for enquiries for product catalogues and prices, and 20 Councils are interested in using the purchasing option.
Local-e Director, Roger Jayasundara, said the project is aimed at improving the availability of online purchasing services.
“This will enable country councils to improve internal efficiencies and speed up the implementation of their projects and services,” he said. “In the past, Councils have shown reluctance to accept e-Procurement due to excessive transaction costs, low vendor participation and the belief that local suppliers will not be enrolled in the electronic market place.
“From the outset, Local-e faced additional challenges such as convincing Councils’ staff that e-Procurement would significantly improve purchasing decisions, as well as being a sustainable and low cost operation.”
Roger Jayasundara said Local-e met these challenges using a winning formula that was accepted by many country Councils.
“This formula involved a unique collaboration with the NSW Department of Commerce,” he said. “Local-e coordinated and provided the necessary logistics for Council preparation, training and implementation by supplying a proven e-Procurement system (smartbuy®) and associated know how.”
Following a successful promotional campaign, various Councils have now elected to participate in the e-Procurement project.
Bathurst Systems Accountant, Allison Newton, said the new system looked fantastic and would reduce processing time and error. Depending on budget, the system is due to be introduced on 1 July 2005.
For more information contact Roger Jayasundara on (02) 9242 4052 or email roger.jayasundara@lgov.org.au
