IT Procurement Guidelines

Reprinted by the courtesy of Information Technology Association of New Zealand. Please note that the article may be slightly country-specific when it comes to legal issues.

This paper has been prepared by the Information Technology Association of New Zealand (ITANZ) to provide organisations undertaking technology purchases with some guidelines on the formal procurement process. These guidelines are intended only as a briefing paper and are not in themselves a definitive step by step guide to procurement. The degree of detail in the procurement process (and therefore the costs for the purchaser and vendors) should of course reflect the value of the purchases.

Due to the convergence and inter-linking of computing and telecommunications, this guideline series applies equally to these technologies (collectively referred to as Information Technology or "IT" below). For example, PABXs are increasingly computerlike software-controlled devices integrating voice with data at a user's workstation. A user will take voice calls via a headset linked to the PC. The voice call may initiate the retrieval and display of data relating to the caller from a sales database. Voice and data are no longer separate parts of a system

Preparing a procurement strategy, a statement of requirements and evaluating vendor proposals, is not always an exact science and this paper only sets out to discuss some of the major issues and standard tendering strategies. Not all steps described are always needed, but as a minimum, the purchaser's objectives and the vendor's proposed solution should be formally documented. Where an organisation lacks either the experience or the skills to undertake a major procurement project, it is recommended that professional advice be sought from a consultancy that is independent of the particular supply process.