A report in Supply Management notes that the government of New Zealand is undertaking a consolidation and reform of its procurement legislation:
New Zealand is to introduce new rules on government procurement to make it easier for smaller companies to tender for public sector contracts and provide better value for money.
The new laws replace 44 different pieces of existing legislation, cabinet directives, and other guidance.
“By making it easier to compete for government contracts and making the tendering process consistent across the public service, we expect to make our procurement business more accessible to smaller local firms who previously may have been discouraged by the process,” said economic development minister Steven Joyce.
As part of the new process, the government will give more information about procurement opportunities and longer timeframes for responding to tenders. There will be greater use of model tender documents and contracts to streamline the tendering process.
The new rules are set to come into force October 1, 2013.
