Small to Medium sized enterprises (SME)

Dallas StowerAssistant Director-General, Strategic ICT

Agenda• Overview of the ICT SME Participation Policy• Why SMEs are important• Future opportunities • Case Studies of how Queensland Government

are engaging SMEs– David O’Hagan – Parents portal initiative– Fiona Armstrong – One-Stop Shop program– Linda Worthington – ICT Services Panel

• Q&A

Overview• Why?

– The ICT SME Participation Scheme was introduced to assist SMEs gain greater access to the Queensland Government ICT market.

• Who?– The scheme applies the Australian Bureau of Statistics

definition for the upper limit for a SME. “This is defined as any business employing less than 200 people”.

• How?– At least 2 SME’s should be approached for procurement up to

$150k. – SMEs receive a 10% weighting in the evaluation of ITOs for

procurement over $150k.

Why SMEs are important

Driving better value for money•Innovation•Flexibility•Customer service•Industry development•Increased local competition•Developing local skills and growing local economy•Support regionalisation

Challenges

• Current SME participation level needs to be greater

• Accuracy of Whole-of-Government reporting on SME participation needs improvement– QTender– Departments– ICT Services Panel

• Queensland Government ICT strategy 2013-17 and associated action plan

• Key enablers to increase opportunities for SMEs include:– At least one responding SME capable of

delivering will automatically be short listed in the evaluation of ICT offers

– Short Form contracts up to $1 million in value– Innovative solutions up to $500,000 incentive

How things are changing

Innovative solutions incentive

Government can directly engage 1 SME in the provision of innovative solutions up to $500,000•What is innovation? •Creating opportunities for innovation, partnerships and diversity in the supply market •Quarterly reporting on innovation incentive•Innovation Portal is coming

What we are doing

• Marketing the new policy– Departmental workshops– Industry forum

• Minister’s SME Thought Lab• Easier identification of SMEs across Government

– Queensland ICT Directory – ICT Services Panel– Vendor management tools to share good news stories

Future Opportunities

• Streamlining and standardising the procurement of ICT services

• Modernising procurement to be more commercially aligned

Copyright © The State of Queensland (Department of Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts) 2013The presenter is the author and that the State of Queensland is copyright owner and/or has the right to licence the content.

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