Outsourcing away

Written By: - Date published: 6:18 pm, January 27th, 2010 - 8 comments
Categories: public services - Tags:

We’ve had a few posts about the lack of action from the government – but over on Bernard Hickey’s blog he’s spotted progess being made on the topic of outsourcing:

Treasury and the Ministry of Economic Development (MED) said they had asked outside companies to bid to run administrative services for the government, including information technology management, human resource management, procurement and executive corporate services.

My understanding is that departments and ministries have been asked to provide information regarding their procurement  – could be the first step towards putting this plan into action. While I think it’s wise to know how the public sector is spending money, I would ask the question as to whether we’d really end up saving money or not, especially when you take into account the cost of time and money tracking it all down to the toilet roll supplier. Then there’s the issue of who makes the profit?!

8 comments on “Outsourcing away ”

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  1. Classical Liberal 1
    27 January 2010 at 8:41 pm

    Outsourcing can work – but it’s not always necessary. NZ Police, by partnering with a commercial organisation, got the cost of processing a purchase order down from $42 to $5.

  2. Tear-along-dotted-line 2
    27 January 2010 at 9:59 pm

    While Bernard Hickey’s interest.co.nz item says outsourcing is the aim, if you look at the tender documents on gets.govt.nz (they are publicly available), the request from Treasury and MED is for someone to measure what happens now so they can see where improvements can be nmade. Outsourcing is Bernard Hickey’s speculation on what the “improvement” could be. It could just as easily be any of a dozen other options.

  3. BLiP 3
    27 January 2010 at 11:26 pm

    Basher Bennett is working on similar plans to outsource social services. How long before there is just one company, probably foreign owned, that manages the entire HR programme for the public sector.

    Apply in confidence now at the McDonalds nearest you

  4. tc 4
    28 January 2010 at 7:25 am

    A relentless focus on any opportunity to line our mates pockets……..between this, these outside advisors ministers call on and Ryall’s extra layer in the Min of Health to make DHB’s efficient………the hypocracy knows no boundaries regarding reducing the levels of admin they banged on about in their election campaign.

    The way NACT run I’d be looking for the real agenda as this public notified activity will be a smokescreen for somethin alot more persavive.

    • Draco T Bastard 4.1
      28 January 2010 at 11:34 am

      Yep, the more bureaucracy the easier it is to hide what you don’t want people to see.

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