WA to end GovNext IT sourcing scheme in 2024

The WA government will discontinue its GovNext IT buying scheme in April next year, and chart a new course when it comes to the way state agencies procure technology hardware and services.

GovNext was set up in late 2015 to move state agencies from owner-operated IT to consumption-based models.

Agencies were directed to buy compute, storage and unified communications services from a small number of providers instead.

The state government said in a statement last week that GovNext had served its purpose but would be discontinued once the current provider contracts cease.

"The public sector's decision-making for ICT investment has matured, moving away from legacy ICT systems and practices and is now adopting common digital approaches across agencies, meaning GovNext is no longer required," finance minister Sue Ellery said.

"The department of finance will work with other state government agencies to develop ICT contracts that are fit for purpose, create more choice for services and deliver more flexible outcomes."

The government is undecided on what the new ICT services contracts that replace GovNext will look like, but said scoping work will start this year, ahead of tenders "in early 2024".

"Agencies will be supported to transition to the new frameworks which will provide improved agency choice and more flexible outcomes," the government said.

The government claimed GovNext as a success overall, leading to "considerable shifts in public sector purchasing behaviour" for IT.

But the program was audited in 2018 and found to not be capable of generating the savings promised in the business case for it.

A finance department spokesperson told iTnews that "over the life of the contract, the total expenditure under GovNext (until December 2022) is $424 million."

The spokesperson added that "the savings forecast in 2016 [is] not able to be quantified due to the transition of ICT procurement away from infrastructure to services (such as cloud-based systems)."

"The costs of the two are not comparable."