How digital workflows can accelerate procurement in state government

Government procurement is big business. According to the most recent report from the Australian National Audit Office, 824,178 government contracts were reported by AusTender in the 10 years to 30 June 2022, with a total value of $565 billion. And that’s just at the federal level. 

State governments might not rack up quite the same volume and value of contracts, but they do face similar scrutiny when it comes to spending public money. They also face similar complexities, having to grapple with strict rules around compliance, transparency, and accountability—not to mention often working with limited budgets. This can make it hard for departments large and small to act fast and drive efficiencies across the end-to-end procurement process.

Yet speed is often of the essence. State governments manage large-scale contracts with private companies for everything from infrastructure and public transport projects, to health services and IT. To keep these projects running smoothly and to avoid costly delays, procurement teams need the ability to execute agreements quickly, while adhering to strict compliance regulations.

It’s why more and more state governments are following the lead of the NSW Digital Strategy, and pushing for digital transformation of procurement processes.

Digitisation helps procurement teams do more, with less

Like those in many other industries, public sector procurement teams are continually being asked to do more with less. To stretch purchasing budgets further. To accelerate contract processing times. To reduce administrative overheads. The list goes on.

When procurement processes aren’t centralised and digitised — and when they involve extensive paperwork — achieving “more with less” is a near-impossible task. Say a new vendor wants to join a procurement panel or register interest in a state government tender portal, and they have to submit a contract that is literally hundreds of pages long. Or, perhaps there’s a new energy project on the cards that requires multi-agency agreements to be signed between multiple parties. Between the vendors, the legal teams, and the procurement teams, keeping track of these agreements can become a nightmare.

This is where digital solutions like Docusign IAM come in. It can streamline the end-to-end procurement process for state government agencies and procurement panels, helping to:

• Centralise agreement workflows. For more complex or lengthy agreements, managing version control and red-lining of contracts is a whole lot easier when everyone has access to the same document and all changes are clearly marked. 

• Accelerate contract execution. By getting to “yes” faster, procurement teams can reduce operational costs and increase overall efficiency.

• Reduce risk. Security is critical in state government contracting, where agreements are typically stamped “commercial in confidence”. Docusign IAM puts tight guardrails around vendor and contractual data, while protecting against breaches.

• Unlock insights. With Docusign IAM, government departments can turn static agreements into dynamic, data-rich insights — further accelerating contract negotiations and renewals, while helping to uncover new opportunities.

• Improve transparency. With contracting centralised and digitised, it’s a lot easier to hit accountability and transparency targets. Agreements are fully traceable and visible, making it easier for teams to check they meet requirements for state government purchasing.

• Integrate with current systems. Easily streamline and automate your current processes with 900+ available integrations such as Microsoft, SAP Ariba, and Salesforce.

Clearly, digitising the procurement process can deliver valuable productivity, efficiency, and performance gains across the end-to-end procurement process — whether you’re dealing with thousands of purchase orders every month, or just a handful in a smaller agency.

Also, if you’re a Microsoft customer, it’s easier than ever to purchase Docusign for your business. Docusign is now listed on the Azure Marketplace, which is Microsoft’s secure, centralised online store for finding, trying, and deploying cloud-based applications and services. It’s such a trusted way of purchasing third party services and solutions that entire governments are using it. All WA State Government agencies, for example, can procure directly through the marketplace, without having to worry about jumping through all those difficult government procurement hoops.

To learn more about how Docusign is helping to reimagine government contracting, visit Docusign for Government or get in touch.