WA Auditor General finds 'problematic procurement process' at WA Health

Western Australia’s Auditor-General has delivered a damning report into decade-long efforts by the state’s health department to replace its ailing patient administration system, finding allocated funds had not been spent and a replacement was unlikely to be implemented until at least 2014 in the city and 2018 in the bush.

The report published by WA acting Auditor General Glen Clarke, into WA Health’s project to replace its problematic existing PAS — at an estimated cost of $115.4 million — found a myriad of problems.

“Health’s procurement of a new PAS has not been done well. It has been 10 years since a PAS replacement was first identified as a priority by Health, and six year since Parliament provided the necessary funds, subject to Health first satisfying certain conditions,” the auditor wrote.

WA Health’s procurement processes were problematic, involving the use of non-standard clauses in a support and maintenance contract, a failure to test the market before buying a new software licence in 2009, and the fact that Health did not monitor financial progress of the PAS procurement.

Read more here