By issuing 10 local tech contracts, is Govt giving Kiwi businesses a chance?

The Green Party's new co-leader, James Shaw, was quick to respond to the news that US company Fast Enterprises had won the contract to design and supply the software system that will run New Zealand's new tax and social policy administration system.

As reported by Computerworld New Zealand, Fast Enterprises beat off two other overseas suppliers, SAP and Oracle.

Shaw claims that throughout the awarding of contracts to rebuild the IRD's IT systems, the IRD has made it “next to impossible for the New Zealand IT industry to participate and get the contract.”

“There is a suspicion that the Government's desire to sign trade deals and please our overseas trading partners is partly responsible for New Zealand firms missing out on big contracts,” he said yesterday.

Yet IRD deputy commissioner change Greg James made it clear at the press conference in Wellington that no New Zealand companies had bid for the business.

James says that at present, 10 New Zealand companies have contracts related to IT portions of the transformation project.

They are:

• EY - For strategic sourcing and general consultancy services (2012)

• Assurity Consulting - Preferred testing vendor (2013)

• Accenture, Optimation and Thinkplace - Design partners (2014)

• Tenzing - Data cleansing and profiling (2015)

• Oracle New Zealand, Deloitte Aspirona and Assurity Consulting, FIRST integration layer (2015).

However, and alluding to Shaw’s point somewhat, it might be argued just how local some of these are, as subsidiaries of international companies.

That said, James says that as of April, New Zealand companies accounted for 58 percent of services spend.