Contract register data helping to plan future PAP activity

Following the release of the updated HealthShare Victoria (HSV) Purchasing Policies (PPs) in January 2023, HSV has access for the first time to high-level information about the contracts for products and services our health service customers use – helping to identify opportunities that add further value for Victoria’s health sector.

Under HSV PP1 relating to governance requirements, annual information on contract registers is provided as part of health services’ self-assessment.

The sector has responded positively to the change, with an estimated 90 per cent of health services providing contract register information for more than 10,000 contracts.

“We thank health services for providing access to this information,” says HSV Deputy Director Procurement Sandra Ireland.

“It provides valuable insight into what health services believe are critical categories and services and the opportunity to better align future potential opportunities for more centralised procurement with what is important to our customers.”

“From this information we also have a better understanding of the differing health service priorities by geographic location – for example, regional hospitals prioritise things differently to their metropolitan counterparts.

“This indispensable information helps us work out what could be the ‘next big thing’ for our customers and which engagement activities and collective agreements we need to focus on in future Procurement Activity Plans,” says Sandra.

The contract registers also help HSV to understand which contracts are expiring in coming years and the opportunities to aggregate demand or benefits from HSV involvement, supporting improvements to our public health system and ensuring benefits flow.

“It’s helpful to know where to target support for those health services going out to market on similar timeframes for the same categories to reduce duplication of effort for those health services,” Sandra says.

The revised HSV PPs help health services drive greater value for money and improve probity and best-practice procurement and governance. They align with Victorian Government Purchasing Board (VGPB) supply policies and reduce the regulatory burden on small- and medium-sized health services.

For more information on key changes outlined in the amended PPs, please refer to the HSV Purchasing Policies 2023 Key Changes Guide.