In launching the book, Senator Lundy asked this question about contracting out Government work: Who wins? This book, like the recent Senate Finance and Public Administration References Committee Report into contracting out, finds that the costs/saving equations often used to justify outsourcing are not always complete.
Who wins? Contracting out has been justified by this Government on the basis of cost savings. They argue that the winner is the taxpayer, who gets better value for the tax dollar. This Government went so far as to lock in savings from contracting out into their budget statements, pre-enpting without the contracts even being in place.
Contracting Out in Australia – An Indicative History shows that the process of contracting out is not a simple matter. The long history of contracting out shows that there are many factors to be considered that to date have not been quantified or even addressed by this Government.
It is clear that any savings or benefits that may have arisen from contracting out on a strategic basis cannot simply be multiplied by contracting out more and more. Unfortunately, this is the ideologically driven approach adopted by this Government.
The recent example of Information Technology outsourcing by the Department of Finance has demonstrated that factors such as regional job loss, industry development and small indigenous company’s participation and access to the contracts cannot be removed from Government considerations.
For more information, please call Robyn Blackwell 0262773334
