Hon Peter Dunne
Minister of Revenue

Friday 30 November 2012 Media Statement

Dunne: Labour Off The Mark on IRD computer tender

Labour Revenue spokesman David Clark is making a habit of going off half-cocked, with the latest example of his comments on the tender process for updating Inland Revenue’s computer system, Revenue Minister Peter Dunne said today.

“Yet again it is a case of ‘Ready! Fire! Aim!’ from Dr Clark,” Mr Dunne said.

“He needs to gather his facts and then see if they align to his very obvious political intentions before shooting from the lip.”

The Registration of Interest document outlined the mandatory criteria which were entirely appropriate in that they reflected the skills and expertise required to undertake a transformation of this scale and complexity.

“Dr Clark seems determined not to understand this is not just an IT system upgrade, but a much wider business transformation programme that will include the modernisation of all of Inland Revenue’s business processes.”

“For that reason alone he should surely appreciate that this is far more serious than his once-over-lightly cute sound-bite approach.”

“It is vital that Inland Revenue has access to the best expertise and skills available.”

“I also want to make very clear that the ROI and RFP procurement process was developed and managed by Inland Revenue with no involvement from Capgemini.”
The procurement process that Inland Revenue has undertaken was to secure services for the planning phases only.

“The purpose of the ROI was to identify companies or consortiums regardless of where they were based, that had the capacity and capability to provide the services necessary for the planning phase of Inland Revenue’s transformation programme.”

Mr Dunne said that despite Dr Clark’s surprise, Inland Revenue had no expectation of how many businesses, including New Zealand-based business, would register their interest either individually or as part of a consortium.

“It would defeat the purpose of an ROI for Inland Revenue to have preconceptions of which entities might meet the mandatory requirements, and it is somewhat naïve to think otherwise,” Mr Dunne said.

“The mandatory requirements do not exclude New Zealand-based providers from the outset as the opportunity exists for them to either register their interest individually or partner with other companies in New Zealand or elsewhere.”

“That’s business and companies understand it, even if leftie politicians don’t,” Mr Dunne said.

The ROI process was the first stage of the procurement process. As a result of that procurement process Capgemini was selected for that phase of the transformation planning. Capgemini entered into a partnership with a local New Zealand firm, Tenzing, to complement the expertise that Capgemini provided.

“It is inappropriate for Inland Revenue to release information that is under active consideration by the Government – no decisions have yet been made.”

“I will be taking the transformation programme business case to Cabinet early in the new-year. If approved, Inland Revenue will be approaching the market to identify suppliers of design and implementation services,” Mr Dunne said.

ENDS

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