The largest electronic marketplace in Australia has been launched to help government agencies in the state of New South Wales (NSW) conduct Internet business with the public sector.
Systems integrator Logica Australia headed a consortium of companies who got the smartbuy system up and running for the NSW Government’s Department of Public Works and Services (DPWS) within 90 days of winning the five-year, US$13.8 million contract. Designed by German IT firm Intershop Communications AG, the smartbuy marketplace can handle 11 million transactions a year and will save the DPWS millions of dollars annually.
Logica will continue to provide full operational management and services for the remainder of the contract, with several SMEs and small regional companies delivering business processing re-engineering, Web development, supplier and purchasing services, training and cataloguing.
Royston Hoggarth, group marketing director for Logica Australasia called smartbuy a collaborative process which would drive down costs into the future, and said the company would be looking to use knowledge gained from the project to secure similar contracts with government departments around the world.
Smartbuy enables buyers to search catalogues, issue orders and purchase goods or services from approved government suppliers. They will be able to pay online starting early next year.
“By using the Internet, smartbuy eliminates time and distance barriers, enabling regional businesses and SMEs to compete for government business on a level playing field with metropolitan suppliers,” said Morris Iemma, the minister for public works and services.