Every year, 720,000 rolls of toilet paper, 56,000 plastic rubbish bags and 25,000 litres of disinfectant are among the many items purchased by Corrections.
To make the job easier, a new software system being trialled will make it possible to order online these and thousands of other necessary goods and services. The aim is to make the process easier, more efficient and ultimately bring about cost savings for Corrections.
National Procurement Manager Greg Swann says the process will be similar to internet shopping on websites such as Amazon.com.
“You will fill a virtual shopping cart with items and a purchase order will be created automatically subject, of course, to sign-off from the appropriate person,” he says.
“The goal is to provide staff working in this area with a centralised system that makes their jobs easier to do.”
Christchurch Women’s Prison was one of several areas in a pilot usability test of the software known as Supplier Relationship Management (SRM).
Christchurch Women’s Prison Unit Manager Richard Shuker says all the stock they regularly order is on the system and it is easy to get more items added.
“It gives us a clearer picture of what we are buying and how much it is costing. We’ve been in the process of ‘getting used to it’ and have found it fairly user friendly.”
More than 5,000 items are currently loaded onto the system, ranging from stationery to prisoner supplies to offender rations.
Others involved in the pilot were two units at Christchurch Men’s Prison, the Pages Road Service Centre, areas of Corrections Inmate Employment (CIE) Christchurch, the New Zealand Parole Board’s Christchurch office and the National Procurement Team in Wellington.
The system is also being used or evaluated by other government and private sector organisations such as the New Zealand Defence Force and Telecom New Zealand.
Greg says the new system will also provide the Department with a far greater level of information on purchasing. “It will help us to better track what we are buying, who we are buying it from, and at what prices,” he says.
This in turn will equip staff working in the National Procurement Team with the knowledge to negotiate better bulk supply contracts, leading to cost savings.
The SRM project technical pilot is about to conclude and it is anticipated that an extended pilot will begin in Christchurch in July.
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ISSN 1178-8453