Webinar | Navigating Victoria 2026 Procurement Paths, Budget Signals, Real Opportunities

It's just my phone. I realize I haven't turned it off.

Welcome everyone to our final briefing for this year. Uh before we go any further, I want to start by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land from wherever you're joining us

from today and pay respects to elders past, present, and emerging. Um my name is Jennifer Arnold. I think a lot of you have probably seen me on these webinars over the past year. Um I run public

sector networks, industry research and advisory practice. Um spent about 30

advisory practice. Um spent about 30 years in the the local, regional and global sales and marketing roles and large tech companies. Um much of that focused on selling into public sector.

Um so hopefully bring some of that expertise and knowledge into these discussions. And uh for our call today,

discussions. And uh for our call today, I'd like to welcome Judy Herdicitch. So

Judy is the managing director and principal analyst for Intermedium who I'm really pleased to say that going into next year we have developed a strategic partnership in place. Um Judy,

maybe you could do a quick intro for yourself.

>> Yeah, thank you very much. Hi everybody.

And I too acknowledge the owners of um the traditional owners of the lands on which we're meeting today. Um yes, as um

Jennifer's just alluded, I've been um running intermediate for 21 years. Um

and before that I was in um the federal public service and also New South Wales public service always at the interface of um business and IT and uh intermedi's

been going um as a result of my experience on both industry side and p and um government side and um very

similar parallel um kind of offerings to what's in public sector network and that Jen's um looking after. So the strategic alliance that we're in means that we are

able to bring together two bodies of knowledge and experience and hopefully give all of you um some real value ads.

So thanks Jen for today inviting me in today.

>> Great.

>> Thanks Judy. Uh so we've got a a lot to get into today. Uh there's there's some interesting stuff happening down in the Victorian market uh that we're going to talk about the implications of of what

we just saw out of the silver report. Um

we'll also talk about some of the the things that we're seeing in terms of intended procurement coming for the year. Um as well as some of the changes

year. Um as well as some of the changes around uh priorities and how they're approaching procurement. So uh we're

approaching procurement. So uh we're going to jump straight in. If you do have any questions, we'll try to answer as we go. Just pop them into the chat um and we'll get started. And just know also that you're going to be getting

copies of the presentation. So don't

worry about uh scrambling to take down specific numbers or or anything like that. you'll get a copy of the recording

that. you'll get a copy of the recording and a copy of the presentation.

Okay.

So, uh I thought I'd start out with a little bit of scene setting. Um we, as you know, run a number of events across the year um in Victoria, both kind of

smaller roundts, but also our big DIDW event, government innovation week event.

Um and so I wanted to start with what we've heard from the kind of the secretary and ministerial level um since the beginning of the year. kind of those those big picture for what they're

looking at. Um and what we're hearing is

looking at. Um and what we're hearing is that uh transformation is still very much on the agenda for Victoria, but it is all about prioritizing trust. That's

um trust that the public has in government in the services they can deliver. Also, the trust between

deliver. Also, the trust between providers like yourself and Victorian government. Um inclusion, you I'm sure

government. Um inclusion, you I'm sure you've heard a lot about that in all of the markets that we do work in. It is

one of the key things um inclusion for people right across the um the citizenship making sure that people have access to the tools that they need to engage with government and to go about

their daily lives and long-term structural reform. Um you know we'll

structural reform. Um you know we'll we'll talk a little bit about the the big programs of work that are going to be driven in uh Victoria next year but there is recognition that some of the real fundamental things that we do and

the systems that we're using to do them need a little bit of work. Um so that is very much uh what they're going to be focused on. Um and but at the same time

focused on. Um and but at the same time working to a more agile lower risk approaches. These kind of big end to end

approaches. These kind of big end to end everything in the kitchen sink transformational programs just carry so much risk of them and we've seen them go badly. So um they're looking at ways to

badly. So um they're looking at ways to change how they approach it and and make it lower risk but also able to move faster. Um and to that point, quick wins

faster. Um and to that point, quick wins are important, but um casting that eye over over making sure that governance is in place, that things are done sustainably with resilience, that

everything comes together and fits together and they're not building, you know, long-term legacy problems into their into their systems is important as well. Um and then when you look at

well. Um and then when you look at transformation, you know, yes, the the technology is moving quickly and it but it also can take a long time to put in place, but that's not really what the

big blocker is for transformation they're seeing. It's actually everything

they're seeing. It's actually everything that sits behind it. Getting the right policy in place, getting funding structures in place, getting both incentives internally for for government

to make change, but also for the publics to accept the change. Um, so this is kind of the big picture environment that everybody is working in. Um, Judy, is

there anything that you wanted to add into that?

>> Well, thanks Jen. Just really quickly, towards the end of this presentation, I'm going to refer to the digital government outlook report that intermedi just released and the Victorian government um responded to our survey.

Um so we've got as it were official kind of um contemporary view that's a different lens into the sort of information that um PSN is able to pull

together um at its events and so on and it underscores the sorts of things that Jen's talking about um slight as I said slightly different lens but you know the

notion of replatforming the notion of citizen services um digital identity um use of AI and that digital inclusion

piece are the three the five big themes that um we see coming out not only out of Victoria but other jurisdictions. So

there's a nice synergy between what Jen's just said and some of the things you'd be able to read in that in that report.

>> Great. Thanks Judy. So let's get into I guess a little bit more of the detail that sits around that. Um when we have our government innovation weeks we do polling throughout the day. Um so I've

pulled out some relevant points. So we

had our our GIW in Vic back in May. Um

and this is what I pulled out from the the leaders who were in that session. So

getting down into people who are actually you know hands on the tools in these agencies. Um about a dozen or more

these agencies. Um about a dozen or more agencies uh were represented here. Um

and when we look at what their top priorities were for that kind of 25 26 and going into 26 27 um financial years,

you can see here that um compared so Victoria is the blue bar, the um national average is the green bar here.

You can see that Victoria is very very focused around um workforce upskilling and workforce culture. So again, we'll talk about the silver report. you you

would have seen already there's been um a real focus on shifting the workforce in Vic government. Um it uh you know kind of streamlining it a lot more

making it less topheavy. uh but at the same time understanding that there are you know major requirements around upskilling around AI and there was an announcement only a couple of weeks ago

about the fact they're pouring enormous amount of money into data center building to support AI and they're going to need to upskill the workforce sitting behind it. Um but again this is

behind it. Um but again this is considering that that that's not just the workforce building these tools it's also the entire workforce using those tools. Um so this focus on workforce

tools. Um so this focus on workforce upskilling and workplace culture both immediately for those needs and for the longer term um is a huge focus for Vic

government over the next 12 to 24 months and at the same time to support a lot of that process transformation and automation um efficiencies. You know you all know that that the VIC budgets have

been pretty tight over the past period of time. Um so they remain very focused

of time. Um so they remain very focused on on where can we get more benefit and efficiency productivity which has been the key word this year um out of that

and then again sitting behind that is how do we use our data these reams and reams of data how do we we use it to actually make these decisions not just about policy but also about the

technologies and the processes that we're doing um and then investing in in new tech and digital services behind the average. Again, you know, we can look

average. Again, you know, we can look around. Is that because we know that um

around. Is that because we know that um the the budgets have been tight there and so they've been selective about where they're spending their money. Um

there have been markets that have been growing. You know, New South Wales,

growing. You know, New South Wales, Queensland um have seen an uptick in spend. Um so that's why they're a little

spend. Um so that's why they're a little bit below the national average, but they are it very much, you know, is still on their radar screen.

>> Um Judy, anything you want to expand on?

Just >> again to underscore the things you're saying there, Jen. um Victoria's way out past the Australian average um when it comes to workplace um upskilling and

workplace culture and below um the average on investing in new tech and data modernization. And I think that's

data modernization. And I think that's very telling of the budgetary situation and perhaps some of the mood and and feelings that um people in Victoria have

had um in the leadup to the silver review. And so um you and including the

review. And so um you and including the silver review being about reform in the Victorian public sector and perhaps people already refocused on that as an issue. So I think what will be really

issue. So I think what will be really interesting is to see the degree to which Victoria now pulls up to the average um now that we're the other side

of silver um and so on. So um yeah, really interesting insights there.

And if we go on to the next slide and we look at the challenges that they've been facing, you you'll see why um you know so as I said their their biggest challenge has been around economic

budgets but also a big part of that you'll see their competing priorities.

All of you, you know, if you're not in Vic itself, you still would have seen in the news like their health care system has been majorly um stressed.

Transportation, they've been doing huge uh like a lot of other states, huge transformation uh transportation programs of work, metros and and road works, etc. And the justice area, you know, dealing with some of the crime

issues they have there and even making up for penalties from the Commonwealth Games, right? So, they're they're

Games, right? So, they're they're getting squeezed from every end. um

every budget is is just trying to get every last drop of blood out of it. So

where they're putting their money um really is is been a huge consideration for them and the whole silver report that came out is really about finding

cost savings essentially finding ways to um make sure that frontline services that we just talked about are uh able to be delivered and that's by taking cost

out of the back end. So we'll talk about for you as suppliers what are some of the implications of that but you can really see here you know workforce is a challenge so that's why it's one of

their priorities um and just um that that digital divide and rate of change I think rate of change is really the key point there it's um particularly around

AI we've seen this metric really increase um every time we do this polling just being able to keep up again not from just the technology standpoint but also the policy standpoint and the

guidelines around it. So, that's what they're really going to be focused on uh in the coming year. Um Judy, anything else?

>> No, just um perhaps we'll underscore your points about budget um in in a slide or two, Jen, but um yeah, absolutely agree.

>> Great. Okay. So if we dig into the particular areas where they think they're going to spend again the polling that we do whenever we get registrants

for our events um and we get for Vic I think we've got you know kind of well over 500 people at that event we pulled them and asked them uh where is your

spend going to be? Uh so when you look at it kind of a broadly across all the categories, one of the good things is down at the bottom you can see that more than 500 of those respondents said that

they're actually in market. Um so it may not be that they're ready to make that investment now, but they are certainly out looking at what's in the market and getting prepared. um in from an

getting prepared. um in from an investment time frame standpoint. So

considering we did this back in May, um again that kind of that dark purple 6 to 12 months is now um the salmon color kind of has typically already happened,

but you can see kind of well more than half um have that 12 to 24 month investment time frame. So really, you should be positioning yourselves now in terms of getting in front of them

because um again, as we start to go into the mid-year budget review and we understand what the first half look like and they're planning for the second half, of course, next year's budget is going to be starting to be um you know,

looked at now as well. They're really

starting to scan the market and get their ducks in a row. Um when it comes to uh the kind of the macro categories where they're spending their their money, this is very consistent with what

we see in other states in the federal market as well. Data and automation is a big one and we'll look at the breakdown of that in in a moment. But that um going again back to how do we automate,

how do we make data driven decisions, the AI element is really driving spend in that space. um security that's kind of cyber security but also security

policy area um and enterprise applications are kind of the three main categories that consistently are where the the big spends are happening.

Um Judy anything on that before I go into the breakdowns? Uh not at all except to say um you know that the two big slabs there, data and automation and security taking up quite so much of the

focus followed by enterprise and then everything else you know with a relatively small um slice of the pie is very much how we see the emphasis as

well. Anything that's as it were a

well. Anything that's as it were a commodity type um offering tends not to make it to the top. So, you know,

routine hardware um uh etc. acquisitions um they're routine. They don't need to be um of interest.

>> And I I guess you know kind of one of the the big things we're saying you know there is while the budgets have been tight and we'll talk a little bit about this there is spend happening in

critical areas. So for you as a supplier

critical areas. So for you as a supplier the main thing is to just be really clear on what your go to market planning is all about. Where are you focusing?

who are you focusing on getting your value props aligned because spend is still happening. It's just not in every

still happening. It's just not in every single category but there are still opportunities kind of as you could say right around the gate even if it's not really immediately it is being looked

at.

Um so as I said when you drill it down drill down into it a little bit more you can see from that kind of dark bright blue and and that aqua color that this

is around machine learning and AI and BI and analytics. So um not surprisingly

and analytics. So um not surprisingly and then the data management that of course is required to make all of that work. So uh again across the board when

work. So uh again across the board when we look at all of the different um ways that the states and the governments are are cutting this pie. This is pretty consistent uh with what we see um you

know still AI is focused more on the backend systems um automating of processes focus on getting more productivity more decisioning support um really around more of those lowrisk use

cases that augment existing human processes um so not replacing them um things like document summarization contact center knowledge retrieval uh

you know even we see like food bank Victoria has been identifying ways to reduce food waste by using AI. Um

health, they're using uh AI to triage um their risk profiles. So it's it's all stuff that is going to help the people making these decisions or delivering the

services as opposed to necessarily replacing people through the process.

But again, the a big part of the silver report has been reducing headcount. So

they are going to be looking at ways that um they can use tools like this automating tools to reduce the human hours that are required to deliver some

of these kind of back office baseline uh service deliveries.

>> Judy, anything?

>> Sure, Jen. I would say that um it's absolutely no surprise that you know back when um um this forum was held earlier in the year that people were putting the emphasis in these areas of

interest. to your point about the silver

interest. to your point about the silver review for those of you who are reading the silver review or reading any of the commentary and PSN's got commentary in its um community intermedium for those

of you who are intermediate subscribers we've just put out two articles today um with different lens lenses into the silver review everything that's in those either the recommendations that have

been accepted or you know noted um points to these um major areas of interest around machine learning AI analytics data management and also goes to the heart of some of those things I

talking about in the in our digital government outlook report. Those five

major trends, one of them is the adoption of AI. It's just um absolutely a standout that this is the focus of government um any of the um productivity

and other tools required to help um all jurisdictions, but Victoria in particular in effect do more with less.

And you know, we we talked a little bit about, you know, the fact that security wasn't one of the, you know, kind not the top spending area. Um, it wasn't necessarily on one of the earlier sides.

It wasn't their top priority. Vic is

actually was out a little bit early, you know, spending a lot in cyber. And so

they they actually have some of their fundamentals already in place. Um but uh risk management has come up as a really really high category and that's risk management at the broad level as well.

Again we've seen a lot of projects go a bit pear-shaped. Um they want to be able

bit pear-shaped. Um they want to be able to avoid doing that. Um again as you go into AI and you're using personal uh data um you want to make sure that

things are done you know with privacy and security at the utmost concern. So

um while you still see things like data security, identity and access management etc. that kind of broad risk management is very very top of mind for um for Vic.

But it was interesting to see here there's still you know cloud security like most markets there, you know, cloud first is a big mantra. So making sure that there's cloud security there um and

vulnerability assessment um is still a priority. again making sure that the

priority. again making sure that the more they become data driven that they're protecting that data.

Judy, anything else there?

>> Yeah, risk of citizen to citizen data.

Um, you know, Victoria had its hospital data breach um I guess going on two years ago almost. Um, New South Wales has similarly had a very big email breach at Service New South Wales um a

couple of years ago. Jurisdictions are

really really sensitive to the ways in which citizen data might be um compromised. So just um you know that

compromised. So just um you know that aspect of risk management in itself but risk management is such a broad category it's um be interesting to to drill into

that further um not in this webinar not the time but you know just how many different facets of risk there are um not just in the security area um

government will always be uh risk averse and my general kind of view about um Victorian government is that with some of the big failed waterfall projects of the past um risk in all its

manifestations is pretty high in the minds of people in in Vic government and the the silver view touches on that as well in terms of de-risking projects.

>> Yep, absolutely. And you can see from that investment time frame over on the right hand side just over a quarter of that investment expectation is in the next 12 to 24 months. Um so that's the

imminent uh thing they're looking at. So

you know 6 to 12 months they're already on this path. As I said, they've gotten a lot of the fundamentals in place, but it still is going to be an area for spend in the coming year. Um, enterprise

applications is an interesting one. You

see CRM there in the blue is is a big area. Um, you know, that's underpinning

area. Um, you know, that's underpinning kind of the fact that digital experience and business process management is sitting behind that as well. So um so if

you play in this space you can see um the investment is upcoming you you know kind of 60 nearly 70% um is still to come in terms of where they see that

investment. So some of that obviously

investment. So some of that obviously you know you don't rip and replace a CRM very often. You don't rip and replace an

very often. You don't rip and replace an ERP system very often but certainly augmenting what they already have. Um

investing in in updating what they already have. Um I think this goes back

already have. Um I think this goes back to the data discussion as well. How do

you get the right data into these systems? How do you use these systems to

systems? How do you use these systems to automate processes is going to be a big focus. Um again to get efficiencies and

focus. Um again to get efficiencies and productivities which are the big uh mantras in the market.

>> Yeah. And for reasons that you know this webinar we haven't got enough time to go into um but intermedium puts out a different report um and now every second year called its digital government readiness maturity indicator report. um

Victoria is languished in the middle of the leaderboard for some years and um so there's there is quite a bit of catch up for Victoria to do one way or another right across all of this and I would say

to some of you who are thinking about that horizon and where Victoria might be going do look to some of the other jurisdictions um as you know effectively

leaders um in various areas. So, you

know, um the Department of Government Services and Services Victoria prior to that have been modeled on the New South Wales, um V varants, um we see

Queensland going in in new directions as well. So don't think of yourselves just

well. So don't think of yourselves just as isolated in Victoria, but some of the clues about the future um lie in what other jurisdictions are doing because nobody can be an island particularly

around the digital um digital um innovation space. Um and you know just a

innovation space. Um and you know just a really big heads up will be what's happening in ERP. Um with some jurisdictions wanting to consolidate into one platform and then others um

deciding that there are so many new technologies and offerings particularly around the periphery of ERP that there are more options available. So the

enterprise application space is going to be very interesting and probably fairly active in Victoria because of um the impetus of at least some of the the um silver review recommendations.

>> Yeah. Absolutely. And we'll go through those. I think that, you know, kind of

those. I think that, you know, kind of one of the things is kind of merging smaller entities into bigger entities, etc. So, there's a lot of these kind of um, you know, back office systems where they're going to have to look at how do

we integrate them as we make these machinery government changes.

>> Yep.

>> Yeah.

>> Um, so moving off of the the specific spend areas and and looking more into kind of how this is going to happen. So,

um, you know, Judy mentioned that Vic has been looking to New South Wales, been looking to Queensland, and one of the things that, um, you know, we we know that Vic has been a little bit, um,

muddy in terms of being able to get contract information out of. I think

Judy might be a polite term to put it.

>> Muddy would be a good term.

>> They they have not been the most mature procurement practice market that we have to deal with. Uh but it is a a journey that they're working toward. Um they are looking at New South Wales which has a

pretty good system. You know Queensland has made a lot of reforms in this phase too. So uh and even not just the tools

too. So uh and even not just the tools themselves but the approach. So you know I I talked earlier we had Mark Lensner on talking about how New South Wales has been making a lot of change to be more

agile in its procurement. um making

meaning that again rather than these big huge transformational projects they're bunching it into smaller programs of work um that are less risky take less

time but also make it more amunable for smaller organizations to put their their hands up for this work that it's not just going to be the realm of these you know big consulting partners anymore or

big um systems integrators. Uh so that's one of the things that we're seeing. Um

you know part of this this new eervices register framework that that Vic brought out early in the year. They're looking

at simplifying contracting terms. Um you know things like making e-ervices and IT infrastructure contracts into a single streamlined contract. Um having more

streamlined contract. Um having more flexibility in their software licensing.

Um supporting more agile delivery methodology not just waterfall. Um

they're even doing things. They now have of have two contract forms. They've got a short form um for lower risk kind of less a million-dollar programs of work and then one for the longer forms um to

better match what the procurement scale is. Again, making it easier to move more

is. Again, making it easier to move more quickly and to invite more, you know, broader engagement from the industry. Um

and making it easier to do variations within a contract. So, um you know, they're trying to be more mature.

They're trying to match the business needs as well and and you know it's going to be a slow process. This is a big shift to turn. Um but they are at least moving in the right direction and

um you like other markets a real focus on transparency as they do procurement.

um transparency, not only wanting to have more transparency from suppliers when they're responding, but also more transparency about what they put into

these RFXs, what they're looking for um in terms of ROI and risk management and and things like that. Just hopefully

making it much clearer uh for that transaction to take place.

>> Yeah.

>> Um Judy, you I know you your team works a lot in this space. Do you have anything to add there? Um so you know I think in some we've seen um almost like a drip feed of reforms to procurement

policy come out over the last 18 months in Victoria and Jen's mentioned some of the really big ones around the e-ervices register contracting um but there's also

obligations on um suppliers in terms of um the fair jobs code and you know some some elements of social procurement policy. Again, probably nowhere near

policy. Again, probably nowhere near enough time today to do it all of that justice, but my take on Victorian procurement um is that the reform, as

Jen's saying, in terms of transparency, other things, we're still on a journey.

There's there's although the Victorian procurement board is going now into the Department of Government Services, which aligns with some of the other jurisdictions, and maybe um reading between the lines, we don't even have a

board anymore into the future because that's quite anacronistic. Um the other area that potentially we'll see um need to see some change will be the degree to which each of the super departments in

Victoria have autonomy over executing um procurement whilst they stay in line with some of these broad policies.

That's a bit unusual. Um you there's more consistency um around um procurement in some of the other jurisdictions. So, um, you've got an

jurisdictions. So, um, you've got an interesting terrain still in in Victoria, albeit that it's all heading in the right direction now.

>> Yeah.

>> Yep. Agree.

>> And Judy, I might hand this one over to you because you've done a lot of work around kind of where that budget is sitting.

>> Yeah. So, um, Intermedium scrapes the budget papers year in year out of every jurisdiction in Australia. So, we do Victoria, have been doing it for about 10 years. When I say scrape the budget

10 years. When I say scrape the budget papers, we're looking for all the tables that talk about specific allocated funding for effectively new projects,

projects that can't be funded out of BAU because they're too big or too important. Um fighting for new project

important. Um fighting for new project money in any jurisdiction is um really contentious because there are so many

good good opportunities um that agencies put forward for funding that most of them fall off the table because there just isn't enough funding. So this is

not a measure of BAU ICT activity that that comes out of the big OPEX buckets that agencies get year in year out and intermedium tracks that as well. That's

a very big topline figure and the ICT is buried in that. Um so what we use this this kind of funding um uh analysis for is that it's a bellweather of the

attitude of government towards ICT investment. This is like the pimple on

investment. This is like the pimple on the elephant if you like. It's not the big bulk opex ICT allocation for business as usual. It's a special new projects and when we track it year on

year as this chart illustrates and we've put those vote markers up the top um what we've seen as a trend is that coming up to an election governments

tend not to allocate as much new policy money or to new project money as they do in other years. So Victoria's got this

very interesting up and down profile um with with the co years really spiking the amount of new money and then um a significant drop off and then a steady

climb over the most recent years um until we get to obviously this last year with the budgetary situation in Victoria looking like it does and Jen alluded to

it with the infrastructure investment of prior years and other things. Victoria

is the most broke jurisdiction in Australia which is why in Jen's earlier charts you saw you know the challenges being around budget the tap did have to get turned off quite strongly not only

to get turned off let's say in some of the um if if you're having dialogue with agencies and they say that they haven't got any money in one sense you really really need to believe them although

there is pl on the other hand there's plenty of money um what I'm saying is rid the compet competing priorities for what projects get funded. They have to have really powerful um business cases.

So, we're coming up to something called the midyear economic financial outlook in CRA. Let's call it the midyear review

in CRA. Let's call it the midyear review in most jurisdictions. It comes down in December, usually before Christmas. You

should be on the lookout for that um in the next week or two to see what Victoria is signaling out of the recommendations accepted for silver

because there is a chance that we might see some midyear top-ups. Now in this chart, the pale aqua that you see in the two preceding years there, the small

amounts, they were top-ups at the midyear for new projects. We haven't

seen that happen in the last four years because of the budgetary environment.

But there is a good chance there might be some rising out of the silver review would be what I would be saying here.

And then the pale blue um to the right um steadily increasing is intermedi's estimates of where we see new project funding going into the future. We

predict that it has to climb back out of this slump. it we think we've hit its

this slump. it we think we've hit its ner like you can't do all the things we're talking about and all the expectations around AI and um regulatory

reform um you know the productivity solutions that they need for the future to help Victoria get out of its um uh its current budgetary situation require

an investment in ICT. So, we think there'll be project money, but we also think there'll be more into BAU, which this chart is not tracking. This is just new project money. Over to you, Jen.

>> Yeah, and I I think if you look at, you know, the earlier charts I show you around where their investment time frame was, I think that's what it suggests as well. They expected to come up. I mean,

well. They expected to come up. I mean,

part of this was they intended to have a surplus this financial year. Um, so

there is going to be money there provided you know something other major project doesn't go pear-shaped or you know we don't get another Commonwealth Games like debacle or something like that. Um, but you know they're they are

that. Um, but you know they're they are looking ahead. So and I am assuming most

looking ahead. So and I am assuming most of you on the call suppliers on the call are not people who have like you know three month sales windows um or you know pipeline windows. So you should be

pipeline windows. So you should be looking ahead as well. So that's kind of what we're saying is that, you know, yes, the spending is tight right now, but we expect it to open up, but you know, when you've got sales cycles

anyway that are, you know, six plus months, in some cases 18 months, you need to be positioning yourself now um to get ahead of this expected spend, start, you know, raising awareness,

building your profile, engaging with the right people, um and setting yourself up for success for when, you know, things do open up again. in in particular, Jen,

to be helping agencies frame the business case like you know I often use an analogy of um the 1 hour clock and you know the argument that you

need to be in talking to agencies at 5 on the clock and you know helping set requirements and helping them build business case because even the internal business cases inside an agency can come

to n if there are other competing business cases. So um the powerful

business cases. So um the powerful powerful business cases unlike perhaps even in the past are going to win the day.

>> Y absolutely absolutely. So so you know building on that let's look at you know as you're building your go to market plan for VIC next year let let's look at what are these business cases what are you going to have to deal with what's

the environment you're working in. So

hopefully I mean we probably Judy at the front should have explained the silver review for anybody who isn't aware of what this was um at the beginning of the year there was an independent review across the Vic public service was

commissioned and the purpose was to identify waste and overlaps low priority programs that perhaps should not get spend anymore. um looking at how to

spend anymore. um looking at how to return the VIC public service back to its like pre- pandemic share of employment because obviously you know the the number of executive roles

particularly during the pandemic lifted significantly um and they wanted to bring that down and kind of rightsize it um they wanted to look at whole of government efficiency uh but also at the

same time like they really the frontline services as I said their health care systems their child care systems police etc have been really under good pump down there. So, they want to make sure

down there. So, they want to make sure that they're protecting everything that is going into supporting those services and supporting those roles um and you know making sure that those were

sustainable going forward. So, they they already up until this point um there were 600 roles that have gone in public service the the results. So, silver

review they came out with their set of recommendations. We've been waiting for

recommendations. We've been waiting for the Vic government to respond to that as to which of those recommendations they accepted or rejected or partially

accepted etc. So that has just come out um last week. Um it's since I think it's been six months we've been waiting for it which is why a lot of people in Vic government have been kind of waiting to

pull the trigger on some programs of work. Uh but what we're seeing now is

work. Uh but what we're seeing now is that um another 300 plus senior and technical specialist roles are going to go um particularly kind of that senior management level. They want to

management level. They want to consolidate that and even that mid-management level create new opportunities for more junior roles um and a future workforce even even down to

um new graduates um to kind of rightsize the size of the the uh public service there. Um they also like all the other

there. Um they also like all the other markets we've talked about this year are going to try to reduce the number of contractors and and uh labor hire consultants and um senior business

consultants that they have in the market there as well to bring some of these workforce costs down but also make sure that they are building the capabilities

within public service roles themselves.

Not just technical ones but also um you know as we saw with federal government has done similarly building you know business analysts, business consultants, senior project managers um senior

enterprise architects like all of these people who are actually in a position to uh to build programs of work and and strategy um not just those hands-on

technical roles. Um, another big thing

technical roles. Um, another big thing that they're doing is, you know, there are are myriad uh, you know, boards and entities and and small, you know,

legislative bodies that sit within government. And so what they're trying

government. And so what they're trying to do is consolidate those. So we've

already seen a reduction in a number of these um by merging of small ones but now they're um the government has responded saying they've identified

another 29 that they will be able to consolidate either by combining them uh like the legal services board is combining with the legal admissions board um health share of Victoria and

Vic health are going to be absorbed into the department of health. So there's

going to be all of these machinery of government changes with these kind of small government bodies combining or being rolled into bigger ones. Um Judy,

before I go on to the financial management, I know you've done some machinery government review. Do you want to add anything to that?

>> Yeah, sure. And Jen, I'll put um the article that we published today about the impacts of the machinery of government changes on on opportunities for suppliers. Um I see um these

for suppliers. Um I see um these machinery government changes as being the um the quickly addressable changes.

Um with that election coming up in November with the government wanting to show some manifest benefits out of this review and start harvesting some of

those savings. The quickest way to do

those savings. The quickest way to do that will be for agencies that have been impacted like the absorbing agencies to sort of think about what they can do quite quickly in terms of productivity

solutions whether it be around workflow or robotic process automation or any of those types of technologies um um stay

AI if it's not impacting um citizens but just process automation generally speaking as being um the quick wins. So

u The reforms generally speaking out of silver might take up to eight years.

That's beyond the life of this government. But I think what it'll be

government. But I think what it'll be looking for will be as I said um the quick ones. And Jen's right a lot of

quick ones. And Jen's right a lot of these entities are small. Um when you look at the list you go maybe you know so what but um in terms of you know

projects that are as I said quickly addressable there will be um potentially a myriad of them. The challenge is to work out which ones you address and who

you go talking to. And um um all of us are slicing and dicing this data a little bit differently. Um the article I point to really focuses a little bit on the regulators. Um you know um the

the regulators. Um you know um the government wants to reduce the regulators by about 50%. That's an

interesting number. Um you know the regulators are tiny sometimes. Jen

mentioned a couple of them. Um but you know they're probably doing stuff on spreadsheets at the moment some of them.

So you know things like um consolidation around CRM, things like um you know data integrity, data governance, data migration, um everything to do with

bringing two potentially small archaic business systems together to be in an environment where productivity is king.

Um these this will be the sort of conversation that um uh those small agencies and their owning departments if they're going into bigger departments will want to have quite quickly.

Absolutely.

Um we'll talk about the implications as well on the next slide too for that that and this kind of doubling down on financial management. So um they have

financial management. So um they have introduced 10 enhanced financial management rules. What they essentially

management rules. What they essentially focus on is better long-term budget planning. So Judy was talking about

planning. So Judy was talking about really putting together crystal clear, rock solid um business justifications and bis um business plans is going to be

really critical. Um new resource

really critical. Um new resource allocation decisions to be made within the budget windows. So not all of these extraneous we need a new resource here, we need a resource here, but really

planning out their resources within the the budget regular schedule. Um and more reviews and al evaluations.

um not just in the tender process but also as you go through the delivery process as well. So like this very much a you know no surprises sort of

environment that they want to be operating in. Um you know there's going

operating in. Um you know there's going to be what they call an early warning system for agencies to report any emerging financial risks to the department of treasury. So again like tell us early if things are going off

the rails so we don't end up with these ridiculous budget blowouts and also making um CFOs and the other officers within agencies much more responsible

for financial management and performance. So um this is again where

performance. So um this is again where it comes back to you know they are going to really be tightening up um ROI TCO

um transparency financial reporting um having really clear business cases etc because they are now going to be much more senior management personally on the hook for making sure that they don't see

all of these you know things go badly as they've done in the past. Um and the other thing they're doing when it it comes to the technology standpoint again is planning this out. So they want a new

structured roadmap for digital reform.

So something really clean clear that helps identify the efficiencies they're going to get um while maintaining and improving services because as I said the the preservation of frontline services

is really what has been driving a lot of this in addition to the cost savings. um

they're seeing efficiencies through things like shared platforms and repeatable services. Um and they want to

repeatable services. Um and they want to make sure that their uh their kind of um their base their their core digital infrastructure is in place so that they're able to scale. They're pulling

the legacy out of all of that and it's ready for growth on top. Um

so and of course as I said this kind of AI focus we already had that uh AI center of excellence that was introduced and they also had there uh 5.5 million

sustainable data center action plan which comes with not only the infrastructure uplift but also the workforce development to be able to support all of this. Um, anything?

>> Yeah, absolutely. I'd just quickly say Victoria is not an island in this either. Again, you can look to some of

either. Again, you can look to some of the things that seem to have been happening elsewhere for some of those horizon pointers around dialogue you might be having. And the one about um,

you know, no surprises in terms of um, reviewing projects early um, and more methodically. comes out of that risk

methodically. comes out of that risk issue that I was mentioning before with just every about every large department in Victoria historically has had a go at a big fat failed project um with you

know overruns on on dollars and time um and other jurisdictions are the same but the maturity for instance coming out of now the federal government with the

digital transformation agency the powers it has the way in which it's monitoring business cases going in and then also monitoring projects at various stages

My prediction would be that if the the Victorian government is serious about some of this, we will see some strength finally emerging in the digital um sorry

in the department of government services where somebody centrally has to have more responsibility for oversight of business cases going into cabinet for that new policy funding as well as the

tracking of projects as they proceed albeit if they're smaller ones. So

that's kind of you know horizon scan as to what this all means when the things that Jen's calling out here on the ground there actually that there will need to be more clout in DGS and we've

already seen the procurement function going into DGS. So my prediction would be they are aligning in ways that other jurisdictions have. So if you've got

jurisdictions have. So if you've got experience other jurisdictions you can look to that have your conversation with credibility to understand a little bit more about where this might all be

heading.

Yep. Spot on. Um and then just in terms of other go to market considerations you need to to factor into your plan. Um

Judy mentioned the budget cycle. So we

should be seeing that mid-year review and then of course you know we'll be seeing the the next year's budget coming out um toward the end of the financial year. But the big kind of thing that

year. But the big kind of thing that sits in the middle of all of this too is the state election which is going to be in November. uh as soon as they kind of

in November. uh as soon as they kind of confirm the date, we'll see that caretaker period starting probably around that early November time frame.

And of course, for those of you who who aren't familiar with what that means is essentially they're not allowed to transact business. They can't contract

transact business. They can't contract anything. everything kind of slows up as

anything. everything kind of slows up as you get closer to that election because if we do see a change of government and we see off the back of that, you know, kind of an updated budget, we see um potentially again more machinery and

government changes where there are, you know, changes to account um agencies and departments and and they need to replan everything as well. Um, so as we get

into the the kind of first half of the next financial year, second half of the calendar year for us, um, we'll we'll start to see people saying, "Oh, you know, we're either going to like push

really quickly to get this in before uh the state election or everything is just going to stop and and we'll pick up again, you know, after the state election." Um, so it's just something

election." Um, so it's just something that we need to you need to have on your radar screens in terms of, you know, trying to get things contracted, budgeted. They can still have

budgeted. They can still have conversations with people during the caretaker period, but they can't actually transact business. Um, Judy,

anything else to add in there?

>> No, I think that's a fairly good sum as we head towards the end. Jen, maybe just save some time for other things. Yeah.

>> Okay. So,

uh, I might actually there was a question in the thing and we'll come back. There was a question about

back. There was a question about startups and we'll get to that in a moment but the a question that came through uh I think specifically about the silver report which department minister or ministry has taken on the

commitment to implement the silver review findings what's already been committed to do we have any insight into the long-term disposition of GSV and

senate tax some of this might be a long conversation um I would say >> in terms of >> three three questions in that at least >> exactly in terms are the very specific findings and recommendations. I think

the easiest thing on the previous slide I actually had a link down there. Um

that is the government's response to the silver review and they very clearly lay out what they accepted and what they did not accept. So I would I would suggest

not accept. So I would I would suggest that um you know for anybody's there I really go in and read what this silver report recommended and then look at the

government's response to understand because I mean you'll get the the more specific ones but it's also interesting to see what they rejected because a lot of what they rejected was around um

things that could impact frontline services. So things like consolidating a

services. So things like consolidating a whole bunch of the TA colleges, government has rejected that and said if you know if the TAs want to do that, we'll support it. But education is our focus. We don't want to cut anything. We

focus. We don't want to cut anything. We

don't want to impact anything from a healthcare delivery, um transportation delivery, you know, any of those areas we are going to protect as much as

possible. Um so I I would suggest you

possible. Um so I I would suggest you really look at that. And I would say quickly um that um the silver review is

again not an isolated thing. Other

jurisdictions have had similar big wide you know comprehensive reviews of public sector reform >> and it's very typical that governments only accept some. So I think you know in

in when the report Jen's alluding to you'll find that you know the government's accepted 29 of the recommendations and noted or words that affected a whole range of others which

means it hasn't yet committed to doing something. Now sadly some of those noted

something. Now sadly some of those noted recommendations just slip off into um never neverland. Um so when you're

never neverland. Um so when you're reading some of that um you know kind of read it with that kind of view um and a lot of the ones that you know the use of

AI and some of the recommendations around you know centralization of AI um into are yet to be accepted by government. So it's still a work in

government. So it's still a work in progress. So the silver review is a big

progress. So the silver review is a big big flag of direction and it's also some of those um noted recommendations again look look to what's going on in the rest of the country because there's more

progress in some of those areas. So

there's an inevitability that some of those will come to pass.

>> Yeah. And it's also because they're saying, you know, yes, we understand we're going to do that. It doesn't

actually lay out um in every area the specifics of how they're going to do it yet. um that we'll start to see a lot

yet. um that we'll start to see a lot more of that, you know, potentially in the the kind of next if there are any additional projects, as Judy said, coming off the back of the mid-year budget review. Yeah. But more into next

budget review. Yeah. But more into next year's budgeting, we'll start to see the very specific programs of work. Um and

in terms of responsibility, because the recommendations sit across a number of different areas, there isn't really a single body re um who's responsible for it. you know, some will fall into

it. you know, some will fall into Treasury. Um, you know, some will will

Treasury. Um, you know, some will will different departments basically depending on what the recommendations are. Um, and similarly, you know, kind

are. Um, and similarly, you know, kind of what does this mean with GSV and Senateex? Um, you know, I I would say

Senateex? Um, you know, I I would say again there's no specifics there, but considering that they're looking at, you know, kind of working on shared services, trying to find efficiencies,

merging different programs uh or different agencies, I would say that um probably having more whole of government work or at least work that covers uh multiple agencies is probably going to

be something that we see. Um we know Senate is very involved in a lot of that service delivery in that space. So I

would say we'll probably see, you know, some of those projects are going to be sitting across multiple agencies, not just siloed um >> especially the replatforming and

centralized um shared um platforms for things like citizen um accounts and so on.

>> Yeah, absolutely. Um and another question that came in is what does government need to do to truly realize the outcomes uh from the actions that they're going to take post review? Will

a change in government have a major impact? I think it comes down to whether

impact? I think it comes down to whether they budgeted. Are they going to put

they budgeted. Are they going to put their money where their mouth is where they say, you know, they're looking to uplift in certain areas. Um, and whether or not they're, you know, going to take a long-term view. They're they're going

to look for the lowhanging fruit like those easy consolidations. But a lot of these things are not quick win sort of ones like, you know, going back and and really building proper policy and

process and changing business processes to get greater efficiencies and productivity. Um, you know, I think it's

productivity. Um, you know, I think it's all going to come down to them making a true commitment, putting a clear program of work into place and then budgeting for that to happen.

>> So, you know, my my view on that, we've got the election coming up in about a year. It's a pretty short time frame.

year. It's a pretty short time frame.

So, some of the things I said before about the lowhanging fruit, the quick productivity wins, particularly in the regulators and other places with a bit of visibility to citizens, um, we might

see things at that level. um big

systemic reform needs multiple um uh terms. Um so the silver views flagged eight years the reforms you know if we regard New South Wales as the poster

child for digital um transformation of citizen services um it took you know a dedicated minister in Victor Dominello and 10 years to get to where v where New

South Wales is. Now Victoria can be a follower and has in some ways but um in terms of government commitment to this um none of us should be um at all under

any illusion that this can happen in the space of you know even the one year remaining um and if there's a change of government um and I'm not going to get into the politics of it but the pundits

say that's unlikely um but if there is a change of government you know throw all the papers up in the air and basically some of this stuff might start again. I

don't think that's that's the case. So I

think you all need to be because this is a this is um a momentum that is Australia and you know kind of globally wide in various ways. So Victoria won't turn the tap off on some of this but you

know the the the political cycle has a has an interruptive um element to it.

>> Yeah. Uh so I'm going to move quickly because we're we're running out of time here but but for you as providers you know we've touched on a lot of this before. I think the main thing because

before. I think the main thing because there still is uncertainty off the back of where this is going, start thinking about different scenarios that might happen and you know have a plan A, a plan B, a plan C like how is this

potentially going to play out and how is it going to impact you? So you know are we going to see you know continued investment in this area or might that tighten up um you know is this moves to a whole of government type of

environment? what does that mean for us

environment? what does that mean for us if we have existing contracts or what could it mean in terms of bigger opportunities for you um or outsourcing as I said they're trying to reduce

consultants and they're trying to reduce contractors um if you are you know in the benefit of doing that um how is that going to impact you uh and your um your

existing ones so review your existing contracts and deals but also look at you know how it might open up opportunities for you um as I business cases and value

props that are focused on TCO ROI, supporting those frontline services, greater transparency, showing greater public value. So, you know, are we

public value. So, you know, are we creating jobs in Victoria? Are we

contributing back to, you know, the innovation ecosystem in Victoria?

They're going to be looking for those um benefits kind of as well as those kind of soft benefits as well as the hard benefits out of uh programs of work. um

risk mitigation just you know again no surprises plan everything out detail everything um again efficiency and and productivity is the big focus on the

outcomes that they're going to be looking for um there's going to be as we talked about earlier support for application infrastructure mergers as these entities come together or they're

looking at doing more holover programs of work um regulatory environment is they're combining a lot of these regulatory ones they want to automate the licensing and permitting. So, if you play in that licensing and permitting

space, I think there's going to be quite a bit of opportunity coming up for you as they relook at that and try to streamline it. Um, support for, you

streamline it. Um, support for, you know, the the people who are left once all of these other jobs are cut. Um, how

can you support these reduced customer teams? How can you help uplift their

teams? How can you help uplift their skills? I think will be a real benefit.

skills? I think will be a real benefit.

Um, and then understanding state purchase contracts and registers. These

are basically like the panels that you are required to be on. Um, make sure like don't get yourself in a position where you're perfectly suited for a piece of work and then realize that you don't you're not actually on the

register to be able to, you know, put your name forward for that. So, get your uh get your house in order for the coming year.

>> Um, Judy, really quickly, anything else to add? We got three minutes left.

to add? We got three minutes left.

>> That's that's all all agreed.

>> Okay, great. Uh so um oh and the really quick thing about there's a question about how startups so I guess environment um there are so the the Vic

government does run kind of forums where they invite vendors in to come and present to them. I would say again make sure you're on these uh registers and panels uh to make sure that you can play

in that space. Um, you know, I have to put the PSN flag up and say, you know, the PSN events, we get several hundred attendees to our government innovation

weeks or other innovation weeks. It's a

great way to raise your profile within the market there and start some conversations and start to understand who's who and what their priorities are.

Um so you know government can get hard to get out of their office and come to an event but uh you know go and um you know go where they are to make those

connections will be helpful as well. Um

now the good thing is is that you know PSN and Intermedium can help you with all of this. So uh you know we we bring between the two of us we bring you know

this this research and this insight. We

can do custom market research as well as the great work and Judy I'll talk a minute about what comes out of the intermedi.

Um my team helps build whole sales and marketing programs all the way from the value propositions all the way through to tender support. Um helping to put go to market and sales strategies together,

demand genen strategies together. Um

skills training, you know, we both do sessions around selling to government and understanding how government works if you want to uplift the skills within your team. Um, so please do reach out if

your team. Um, so please do reach out if there's anything that we can help you with. We're doing a lot of sales kickoff

with. We're doing a lot of sales kickoff support right now. So if there's anything we can help um, set you up for success for 2026, please do reach out and let us know. Um, Judy, really quickly on your intermediate

capabilities.

>> Sure, absolutely. In the last one minute available, um, so I mentioned that digital government outlook report. It's

free. It's available for download from the intermedium website. It's also

available through PSN. So just go look for that. It's that the five systemic

for that. It's that the five systemic trends we see right across Australia um that I talked about before um citizen services replatforming use of AI data governance and the digital divide. It

has a lot of um useful pointers to what's going on in government thinking including in Victoria we call out a lot of um information for Victoria. And then

if we move on to the next slide um this is a view of our interface. Uh

basically um we sell an online subscription of um a whole range of resources including expiring contracts which are useful for prospecting for um

can I you know challenge be a challenger to the incumbent. So um right through to um um more qualitative information such

as um agency profiles. You can research the market, have a look at relationship maps on who's buying what from who inside an agency. Um, we do supplier

profiles. You can look at uh tenders. We

profiles. You can look at uh tenders. We

have a daily tender alert service. We

keep every tender that's been issued including all the documentation that was issued with that tender. Um, and we do a lot of drill down into budgets. So um

basically we have an array of um resources um for people prospecting into the government market and we couple that

um as Jen said with um qualitative research and advisory services and in this new strategic partnership we're going to bring these resources together more strongly with the sorts of

resources also available out of PSN um and bring you know a really kind of blended offering but we seek to have in this platform everything from five past

on the sales clock all the way through to preparing for a tender and that's probably all I need to say. Thanks Jen.

>> Y thank you. Okay bear with me for two more slides everyone. Uh so we actually had a question about how do we find out about these forums? So if you go on to our website so public sectorwork.com

you can see all of our events coming up.

Um you can see our VIC event is the first cab off the rank in March. Um so

you know please do have a look at those.

All the details are there. Um in the follow-up note we'll send to you. We'll

make sure you've got a link to be able to reach out. Um but we pulled Vic forward this year given the election. So

it's it's the first one. So if you're interested in sponsoring that event, please do reach out to us ASAP. Um

because that's one of our big ones that we uh that people are, you know, keen to get involved in. Uh, and Stacy just popped the link in the chat. Thank you

for that. Um, and then finally, just if you want to learn more about engaging with government and best practices for sales and marketing, uh, we are having,

um, in Sydney at the end of February our accelerate event, uh, which is for sales and marketing professionals. We've got a f like fantastic lineup of senior

government, um, from federal, state, local, etc. Um there's still time to get in for early bird tickets for the next couple of weeks. Uh so please um do have

a look at that. It would great to have you and your team there. And as I said really, you know, the idea is to help your team get ready for a really successful selling uh season in 2026.

Um so Judy, thank you so much for joining and sharing all of your insights. Um thank you for everyone here

insights. Um thank you for everyone here who joined. And if you do have any

who joined. And if you do have any follow-up questions or you have any uh need for any support from either of us, please do reach out. Um you'll get our details and uh yes, have a lovely

holiday season everyone. We look forward to working with you next year.

>> Yeah, thanks Jen. I echo those sentiments completely. Thank you.

sentiments completely. Thank you.

>> Thanks everyone.

>> Bye.