The Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) have welcomed the opportunity to work with Australian Government Information Management Office's (AGIMO) towards development of a range of simplified model contracts for frequent low risk transactions between ICT companies and the Federal Government.
The first three draft contracts from the Source IT suite of model contracts are designed to offer an alternative to the more complex "GITC' contract.
Over time, agencies have moved away from GITC, with many introducing their own contracts, meaning that the industry is confronted with a wide range of contracts.
"Companies doing business across Australia are currently faced with at least 9 different contracts and then variations on top of that. Clearly, this situation is far from ideal as it introduces additional time, cost and risk for all involved. What's more, it represents a significant barrier to doing business in the government market for both Australian and foreign companies," commented Rob Durie, CEO, AIIA.
"Last year, the Federal Government alone let about 24 000 ICT contracts. If even 5 companies bid for each contract, we're looking at well over 100 000 contracts that have to be reviewed and negotiated each year " that's a lot of time and money that both government and industry could better use focusing on achieving their business objectives through ICT.
"We are looking forward to working with our members and AGIMO in developing a fair and workable contract that both the industry and government will want to use", he said.
