John Sheridan leads the technology and procurement division in the Department of Finance.This is his presentation to the Canberra chapter of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply luncheon on November 24, 2015. In it he briefly explores the current state of procurement in the Australian Public Service and considers approaches to the much-maligned procurement rules and practices of government.
The Australian Government purchases $50 billion of goods and services every year. Sheridan recently led one of the most innovative procurements, bringing on board the govCMS platform, based on an open source publishing system called Drupal. The contract was worth $24 million and is expected to generate large savings over the term of the five year contract.