Senator the Hon Katy Gallagher

The Albanese Government is creating new opportunities for small-to-medium businesses through a new marketplace category for back-office systems.

This means that for the first time since 2016 – a wider and more diverse range of businesses will be able to sell enterprise resource planning systems to government.

This includes financial management, human resources, payroll, and workforce management systems. 

The change in approach opens up the market to support competition and provide opportunities for new and existing sellers of these products and services. 

It will also allow Australian Public Service (APS) entities to choose technology and vendors that best meet their needs and budgets.

The Minister for Finance, Senator Katy Gallagher, said for too long small-and-medium businesses have been locked out of selling to the Australian Government.

‘We know the previous Coalition Government chose to do deals with major firms, locking out small and medium businesses for years.

‘The Albanese Government is levelling the playing field and giving SMEs more opportunities to sell their services.

‘We want to encourage innovation and give small businesses the chance to grow.

‘The establishment of this marketplace category means that government is again open for business.

‘This is in addition to the changes to Commonwealth Procurement Rules to deliver more for small business from 1 July 2024, including a new, higher target to source 25 per cent of procurements below $1 billion, and 40 per cent of procurements below $20 million, from SMEs.’

This is the next step in the Albanese Government’s new approach for back-office functions in the APS.

From mid-July, all government agencies improving their ERP corporate systems or solutions will be able to access sellers on this marketplace. 

Use of the ERP Products and Service Solutions on the Digital Transformation Agency Software Marketplace is mandatory for non-corporate Commonwealth agencies and is also available for Corporate Commonwealth Entities (CCE’s), state and territory governments. 

The Department of Finance and the DTA continue to work closely with sellers and government agencies to ensure that the APS ERP approach promotes choice, market competition and affordability and provides the APS with the tools needed to manage its corporate responsibilities now and into the future.

The new category can be accessed by going to BuyICT.gov.au.