Australia plans FinTech use in procurement
By GovInsider
Public sector use of FinTech to be reviewed.
The Australian Government will plan how FinTech can be used in procurement by the public sector.
“The Commonwealth will be looking to innovative FinTech solutions to foster diversity, choice, and responsiveness in government services,” the Treasury said in a new report.
Australia had over 69,000 procurement contracts valued at A$60 billion in the last financial year. FinTech, such as online payments and digital currencies, can ensure that these transactions are better secured, and offer faster services for customers.
Using such technology in government procurement can “encourage innovation, entrepreneurship, and more efficiency investment”, it said, with better use of taxpayers’ money. It will also improve customers’ and suppliers’ experience of government transactions. It “ensures users can be confident that public authorities are using the most secure and efficient systems available”, the Treasury report said.
Some government buying systems in Australia still rely on manual processes, it added, which “lead to inefficiencies, inconsistencies, and occasional errors or transactional back-log”.
The UK Government has announced plans to trial Blockchain - a distributed accounting technology - in welfare payments, while Estonia plans to use it to protect citizens’ health records.