Good procurement systems and data analytics are the cornerstones of modern procurement. Procurement systems enable efficiency and control over the purchasing process, while good data provides valuable business intelligence and actionable insights.
Over the past year, the DGS team (formerly part of DTF) has continued to deepen its procurement data and analytics capability and progressed the Supplier Hub project.
Under the oversight of the VGPB, DGS continues to lead these 2 technology-related initiatives to improve procurement outcomes.
Improved procurement data and analysis
Procurement spend data and analysis project
The procurement spend data and analysis project, which began in 2020, collects, consolidates and classifies spend data from all departments, Victoria Police, Major Transport Infrastructure Authority (MTIA) and Cenitex. With the collection and classification of data largely automated, the focus of work in 2022–23 has been to continuously improve the machine learning classification model to improve accuracy and develop and improve dashboards for CPOs and SPC category managers to enable data-driven decisions.
The data has been an important input for identifying potential new SPCs, with several new SPC opportunities identified and investigated during the year.
DGS has also brought collection and analysis of non-ICT SPC supplier reporting in-house, improving data quality and completeness and creating a series of dashboards for SPC category managers. Together with classified accounts payable data, the new dashboards enable more effective SPC category management by supporting category managers to identify patterns, trends, opportunities and gaps in service provision, and to monitor spend, compliance and performance.
Sharing knowledge
A key focus for the DGS systems and data team in 2022–23 has been developing analysis and dashboards for the CPOs of all government departments, MTIA, Victoria Police and Cenitex to enable them to get to conduct their own analysis of their classified data. These organisations now have access to a consolidated view of their departmental procurement spend. The dashboards and analysis will be a valuable tool to support CPOs to address SPC leakage and support informed, data-based decision-making.
Case study: Dashboards drive category management efficiency
Understanding procurement data enables well-informed, data-driven decision making. DGS knows the value to be achieved from good data analytics – from ensuring the quality and completeness of the data collected to designing and building custom dashboards for performance analysis.
In 2022–23, the DGS procurement data analytics team developed dashboards for all non-ICT SPCs and registers. These interactive tools present key procurement metrics for each SPC, such as spend analysis, supplier performance, compliance and usage patterns. They provide insights into the way buyers and suppliers interact through the SPC and are already supporting day-to-day category management and informing longer-term category strategies.
Access to this information is helping SPC category managers better engage with departments and agencies. By seeing the story within the data, category managers can:
- share new insights, including demand profiles and supplier utilisation
- lead impactful discussions with key stakeholders such as the SPC user reference groups.
Over the next year, the team will focus on expanding the suite of dashboards and developing dashboards for the ICT SPCs.
The new dashboards enable more effective SPC category management by supporting category managers to identify patterns, trends, opportunities and gaps in service provision, and to monitor spend, compliance and performance.
Deliver a single supplier hub
During 2022–23, the Supplier Hub project (previously the Supplier Portal) was incorporated into the Digital Marketplace project led by Digital Victoria. Merging the Supplier Hub with another broader government procurement system brings both online platforms together providing a more streamlined experience for buyers and suppliers.
This major milestone will provide a single platform for suppliers to provide profile information for all government buyers to view and access. Importantly, this will make it easier for suppliers to do business with the Victorian Government by reducing their administrative burden.
Suppliers can update their profiles to include insurances, accreditations and key supplier contact details to receive automated Victorian Government communications on policy updates, announcements and – for SPC suppliers – opportunities to tender.
The Supplier Hub will provide government buyers with visibility of all registered suppliers. With enhanced search capability, it will improve the visibility of smaller suppliers to Victorian Government buyers and promote social and local procurement initiatives.
The Supplier Hub will be progressively rolled out from July 2023.
Highlight in 2022-23
- Strengthened in-house analytical capabilities
- Improved SPC compliance through leakage reporting
- Supplier Hub launch
Case study: Digital Marketplace and Supplier Hub to transform procurement processes from the ground up
The Digital Marketplace is a Victorian Government initiative to improve how government engages with industry and procures from SPCs.
The Digital Marketplace will improve the accessibility of SPCs across the Victorian Government by digitising procurement engagement processes and streamlining the management of requests for supplier information and quotes, by capturing the source-to-award process information in one place. In parallel, a program of work is underway to simplify the contractual agreements and procurement processes for the eServices Register, the State’s largest register, to reduce the complexity of the buying process and make it easier for businesses when supplying ICT services to the Victorian Government.
The Digital Marketplace went live in February 2023 with Amazon Web Services added as the first SPC. This was followed by the Citrix and SAP SPCs. Further SPCs will be progressively available through the Digital Marketplace in 2023–24.
The Digital Marketplace program, through its Supplier Hub stream, is transforming the way the government’s suppliers will register their details when providing both goods and services. Currently suppliers register separately with each Victorian Government department and agency they engage with, which is time consuming for suppliers and leads to duplication of supplier profiles across many different departments.
With the introduction of the Supplier Hub, businesses interested in supplying goods and services to the Victorian Government can self-register their business details and easily outline their service offering to government buyers through a centralised online platform. This platform will house all supplier information including accreditations, certifications and insurance documents in one central location, accessible by all government departments and other state purchasing entities.
Suppliers will have complete control to build their business profiles and can incorporate evidence of their alignment with various Victorian Government initiatives such as the Social Procurement Framework and the Fair Jobs Code.
The Digital Marketplace and Supplier Hub will work side by side bringing together benefits of centralisation and digitisation to make buying and selling with government easier, simpler and more equitable.
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