Review of Strategic Contracts Team

SPARQ Solutions provides information and communications technology services to Queensland’s electricity suppliers, Energex and Ergon Energy. The Strategic Contracts Team (SCT) maintains primary responsibility for procurement strategy and delivery on behalf of SPARQ Solutions. Procurement of circa $100 million of goods, services and licensing is facilitated annually by the SCT. Upon acknowledgement that the SCT may be improperly utilised and thereby less able to undertake value adding activities, CKA was engaged to perform a comprehensive review of the SCT.

The Challenge

• The review was to evaluate and verify consistency with sound commercial practice, extent of focus on value adding activities, efficiency and effectiveness, appropriate levels of governance, stakeholder satisfaction, and the division of roles and responsibilities.
• SPARQ Solutions set a strict deadline of three weeks from commencement of the engagement.

Our Approach

Upon commencement, immediate action was taken to organise an array of interviews (17 in total) required to obtain insight into current practices, along with any associated shortcomings and opportunities. In addition to interviews, CKA conducted a comprehensive review of records and resources, including an audit of several procurement activities. Investigations addressed:

• templates;
• administration practices;
• procurement framework and related processes;
• systems supporting procurement;
• probity and governance; and
• people, roles and responsibilities.

Outcomes

All investigations were completed, and the report was published within the three week time frame stipulated by SPARQ Solutions.

Thorough investigations led to a comprehensive report capturing a vast range of findings. Across the interest areas listed, 28 improvement recommendations were made. To plan for implementation of each recommendation, the report presented a table that highlighted required activities, prioritised & scheduled activities, allocated resources, estimated effort, and nominated duration. All recommendations were charted to diagrammatically illustrate, for implementation of each recommendation, the estimated level of effort, versus the likely benefits generated.