5 April 2023
Ref: DOIA 2223-1993
Mark NMEdia
Email: [FYI request #22031 email]
Tēnā koe Mark NMEdia
Thank you for your email of 8 March 2023 to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
(MBIE), requesting the following under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act):
This request is for New Zealand Government Procurement
On the New Zealand Government Procurement website there is a program called “Procurement for
the Future” that promises saving taxpayers dollars. So I would like to ask:
A)
How many staff are involved in the Procurement for the Future Program? I would like
information on the program team, not the whole department.
1)
How many are permanent/fixed-term and how many are contractors?
2)
What is the higher contractor rate and the lowest? As an example: $100 for a manager
and $60 for a EA. (Please specify the role and the contractor rate)
3)
What is the monthly spend of program staff costs? (Only for the program team)
4)
How much was spent on procurement for the future since the program started?
B)
There are rumours the program will create a new organisational structure for the New
Zealand Government Procurement. Is that correct?
1)
How many roles are proposed to being disestablished?
2)
How much will be department save with it?
3)
Would it increase or decrease the number of staff?
Please see the MBIE’s response to your request below:
A) How many staff are involved in the Procurement for the Future Program? I would like information
on the program team, not the whole department.
Cabinet approved an ambitious Procurement for the Future Programme to improve government
procurement through delivering insight from spend data, capability and technology enablers to uplift
performance and efficiencies gained working together to act a one government customer.
The core programme team of 15 are focused on projects which will deliver the following benefits,
aiming to achieve better outcomes for New Zealanders:
improve supplier engagement, performance and innovation;
ensure government procurement is more efficient; and
improved insights and intelligence.
MBIE1376631
Whilst multiple people from New Zealand Government Procurement are involved in working on the
programme, it was essential to supplement the existing operational team with Change Management,
Stakeholder Engagement and Programme and Project Management expertise given the necessity to
work in collaboration and co-design with around 120 agencies mandated to use the government
procurement rules, about 2,500 agencies encouraged to use the government procurement rules, the
supplier/provider community and Māori.
1) How many are permanent/fixed-term and how many are contractors?
The intention was to fill these temporary programme team roles with Fixed Term Employees until
New Zealand Government Procurement was able to structure the teams to align with the
Procurement for the Future strategy, however given the shortage of experienced practitioners in the
market it was necessary to engage with nine contractors while the remaining six roles were filled by
Permanent/Fixed Term Employees.
2) What is the higher contractor rate and the lowest? As an example: $100 for a manager and $60 for
a EA. (Please specify the role and the contractor rate)
Aligned with market rates the highest is $180/hour (Programme Director) and lowest is $110/hour
(Senior Programme Coordinator).
3) What is the monthly spend of program staff costs? (Only for the program team)
The average of the last two months (January and December) was $196,324.46 across the 15
programme team members indicated above.
4) How much was spent on procurement for the future since the program started?
$2.213 million which includes staff costs, contractors, consultants and office/equipment.
The decisions linked to the question B of your request are currently still under active consideration by
MBIE. Therefore, information linked to questions B, B1, B2 and B3 is withheld in full under section
9(2)(f)(iv) of the Act, to maintain the constitutional conventions for the time being which protect the
confidentiality of advice tendered by Ministers of the Crown and officials.
In terms of section 9(1) of the Act, I am satisfied that, in the circumstances, the decision to withhold
information is not outweighed by other considerations that render it desirable to make the information
available in the public interest.
I trust you find the information helpful. You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the
Ombudsman of this decision. Information about how to make a complaint is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802 602.
Yours sincerely
Laurence Pidcock
General Manager New Zealand Government Procurement
New Zealand Government Procurement
