The Department of Finance has opened the gates for SAP partners to revamp its enterprise resource planning (ERP) management platform.
Channel partners and service providers are now able to apply to join a new panel that will design, develop and trial a new platform built on SAP/4 HANA.
According to a request for tender published by the department, the platform will form part of the federal government’s efforts to standardise corporate and financial systems across six shared services hubs.
Through this particular tender, the department intends to form a panel of suppliers that can provide the first GovERP solution, which will be a contractor management system.
Other approaches to market for cloud-based “complementary” products and services are expected in due course integrate with the core platform.
A briefing for potential suppliers is scheduled to convene on 23 March, with 26 June earmarked as the panel start date.
“The GovERP initiative comprises the design, development and trial of a common whole-of-government platform, which will deliver a range of standardised corporate and financial services,” the tender document said.
If the pilot is a success, Finance may enter into a separate GovERP contract under the government-wide Shared Services Transformation Initiative, which is being led by the agency.
The GovERP platform was mentioned in a land report from December 2018 that said the Department of Finance was “helping scale up automation across government”.
The program is aimed at standardising business systems and processes across the Australian public service by consolidating service provision from 85 internal service providers (including agencies that provide to themselves) into six hubs.
This was motivated by SAP’s decision to no longer support the ERP version in use by at least five hubs after 2025. Without seeking an alternative solution, Finance would be forced to pay a premium for the system’s maintenance.
The six new hubs are intended to deliver, at a minimum, payroll, accounts payable,
accounts receivable, credit card management and ledger management. Around 30 organisations are already receiving one or more services through a Hub.
Last month, Finance announced its decision to deploy SAP/4 HANA as the preferred cloud platform in its first tender notice to partners.
