MAIT, Govt of Tamil Nadu Organize Workshop on Good IT Procurement Practices

Manufacturers' Association for Information Technology, the apex body representing IT manufacturers organized a sensitization workshop on 'Good Procurement Practices for Information Technology' in association with ELCOT (Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu Ltd). The workshop highlighted the importance of good IT procurement practices for government and semi-government organizations.

In the keynote address,  Atul Anand, IAS, Managing Director, ELCOT said, "The workshop is very educative and gives us an opportunity to get industry perspective from MAIT regarding IT procurement policies for e-governance projects. Tamil Nadu government is one of the early adopters of e-governance and QCBS projects. We are working on building robust procurement policies." He emphasized the importance of good IT procurement procedures and explained how ELCOT always made efforts to get the best deals for the Government of Tamil Nadu.

The other prominent speakers at the workshop were Anwar Shirpurwala, Executive Director MAIT and Ankur Malhotra, VP - GR and PP, Accenture. The event was conducted by MAIT in association with BSA and Accenture as knowledge partner. The speakers emphasized on need for changing the existing IT procurement procedures, identifying susceptibility and settling in processes to make them more efficient. They also advocated the need for greater IT orientation and creation of a comprehensive IT procurement system for government and semi-government organizations.

Anwar Shirpurwala, Executive Director, MAIT said, "The main aim of this workshop was to share best practices in IT procurement and to encourage collaboration between industry and government as that is essential for the success of e-governance. It is quite encouraging to see participation from government officials in the discussion. Tamil Nadu has always acknowledged IT as their major vertical for its development."

With government becoming the largest adopter of IT, it is important to address critical issues like project delays, lack of standardization and slow decision making in implementation of e-governance projects. The workshop was aimed to create a free, secure and transparent environment for procurement of IT goods and services.