Different roles across the government procurement system have different responsibilities to agencies and to the system itself.
The Minister for Economic Growth is responsible for government procurement policy settings. They, and Cabinet, have responsibility for setting the strategic objectives for the government procurement framework.
System leads are appointed under the Public Service Act 2020 by the Public Service Commissioner to lead and coordinate best practice in a particular subject matter across the whole or part of the State services. The Procurement System Leader is the Chief Executive of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.
The Procurement System Leader is responsible for lifting procurement performance and improving consistency of practice.
The mandate of the Procurement System Leader is set out below.
New Zealand Government Procurement (NZGP), a branch within MBIE, is responsible for implementing the government’s procurement priorities.
NZGP’s functions include:
New Zealand’s Public Service chief executives have autonomy over how their departments operate, including accountability for their procurement. The Chief Executive is responsible and accountable for what and how the agency purchases what it needs to operate. They must do this within the government’s procurement framework, including principles for expenditure of public money.
The senior responsible officer (SRO) is responsible for all decisions made during a procurement. The SRO is responsible for ensuring that the organisation is aware of risks and issues arising from procurement that will impact the organisation.
This is likely to be the business unit within the organisation that is seeking to procure goods, services or works. The client is responsible for explaining its needs/requirements to the procurement official, understanding the process and resulting contract, ensuring the contract is delivered.
Agency staff involved in the procurement of goods or services, regardless of whether they are designated procurement professionals, are expected to:
Contract managers hold the relationship with suppliers. They are responsible for ensuring that the contract is delivered, and the expected benefits of the contract are realised.