The head of one of Australia’s leading integrators and software developers has questioned the leadership of the Victorian State Government’s eServices panel after being cut from certain categories and retained in others for no apparent reason.
Cameron Brookes, managing director of Melbourne's Kiandra IT, said the categories in which the company was dropped were areas in which it had performed “exceedingly well”.
“It doesn’t make sense," Brookes said of Kiandra's new panel status.
Last month the Victorian Government triggered outrage after a refresh of its eServices panel saw more than 60 providers removed without any explanation.
About two weeks later it announced a backflip and invited spurned, and new, suppliers to reapply while relaxing guidelines around the use of non-preferred companies.
Brookes said that Kiandra had applied to be re-added to those categories it was left off in June.
Brookes alleged that several other companies had also been excluded from some sections of the panel, despite "performing very well".
“We know plenty of good suppliers that were excluded; I don’t think there’s a good explanation," he said.
Kiandra had completed successful deployments at agencies including the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Development and Victoria Police.
A spokeswoman for Victorian technology minister Gordon Rich-Phillips declined to comment on Kiandra's experiences, and reiterated his comments of two weeks ago that the working party established under the new arrangements would play an important role in improving procurement procedures.
Go west
Earlier this month Kiandra was appointed to the Western Australian Government’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Common Use Agreement (CUA) 14008.
At the end of last year it established a Perth office for its software development business and was increasing its engagement with government agencies and businesses on potential projects, Brookes said.
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