The City of Mitcham is the first South Australian Council to trial the use of TendersSA for the letting of open and restricted tenders. Each year the City of Mitcham allocates a large amount of funding to advertise many open and restricted tenders. By conducting its tender online Mitcham will reduce advertising costs by between 30 and 50 per cent.
The SA Tenders and Contracts Website is the South Australian Government’s central tender bulletin board. This electronic commerce initiative, part of the South Australian Government’s Procurement Reform Program, provides potential suppliers with electronic access to all publicly available government bidding opportunities.
The site displays tender details for a wide range of goods and services such as the supply of specialist medical equipment, building maintenance, provision of transport services, power supply to rural areas and human resources support services. SA Tenders and Contracts Website has been progressively developed since 1997 with security and time stamping paramount concerns.
To provide the highest level of security TendersSA uses both 128 bit and 2048 bit encrypting before it is moved into an individual electronic tender box, which is only available for that specific tender. The box is time and date locked and cannot be opened until the closing date and time for the tender have expired. A supplier wishing to use the Electronic Lodgement Service enters the website and uploads the response in a process similar to attaching a file to an email message. They receive an on screen receipt number and a separate email is despatched to confirm lodgement and receipt of the bid.
An exciting development is the ability for suppliers to register for tenders in specific areas and then receive automatic email notifications. For example, a building company might register for all building tenders so when a department submits a tender, the building company would automatically be notified that a tender has been posted. The City of Mitcham by using TendersSA at www.tenders.sa. gov.au will ensure a more efficient process for letting of tenders.
Mitcham Council and suppliers will benefit from the following.
- Reduced overheads via printing, collating, binding and courier charges
- Easier access to, and distribution of information at times not limited to office opening hours
- Quicker transmission
- A secure electronic environment.
