Public Principle in IT Procurement: How to promote competition instead of corruption?
The sixth IT Procurement Conference provided space for an explosive debate based on the Federal Council's proposal for the ongoing revision of the Federal Law on Public Procurement BöB. In front of more than 350 participants, National Councilor Regula Rytz (pictured) spoke about the political controversies of BöB, among other topics.
This year's IT Procurement Conference drew a record number of visitors, with over 350 participants from procurement, consulting and IT. The conference was organized by the Digital Sustainability Research Unit at the Institute of Information Systems at the University of Bern, the Federal IT Steering Body ISB, the Swiss IT Conference SIK, swissICT and CH Open. The high-level speakers addressed the IT aspects of the revision of the law and the transparency of procurement processes from the public sector.
Federal IT procurements facing a paradigm shift?
In the run-up, the Federal Council's proposal caused discussions, as National Councilor Regula Rytz points out. The federal government is one of the largest IT procurers in Switzerland and is expected to implement the new WTO regulations in Swiss law in 2019. Until then, there would still be a lot to discuss in parliament, including the envisaged extension of freehand procurement, the withdrawal from the principle of publicity and the sustainability of IT solutions. "Absolute transparency and absolute trust," according to Rytz and BBL Director Pierre Broye, is the basis that justifies the revision of the procurement law. Thanks to the clean foundation, more room for flexible instruments, such as the dialogue procedure, is targeted, he said. In order to counter corruption and promote competition, functional and concrete tenders and a sufficiently transparent evaluation system are necessary. Andreas Amsler of the IT company Liip advocates a translation of the micro-services approach from the IT industry: analogous to the communication protocols of the Internet, collectively regulated principles and the interoperability of small IT components could replace large-scale government projects. This would be tantamount to a paradigm shift in IT procurement.
Transparency as the highest principle
Following the technical sessions, the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC) Adrian Lobsiger discussed the controversial points of the Federal Council's legislative proposal on the podium with Regula Rytz, with procurement expert Anja Nyffenegger and with Thomas Fischer, Head of the Procurement Conference of the Canton of Bern. If the principle of publicity is undermined, the declared goal of transparency is reversed, criticized Lobsiger. Fischer underlined the importance of transparency regarding the activities of the state, but pointed out that for effective competition, providers must also have confidence in the secrecy of their business secrets.
Source: Institute for Information Systems at the University of Bern
