Centralising $13 billion tech purchases could cut costs by 30%

Monday, 22 September 2025

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Minister for Digitising Government Judith Collins is moving to overhaul and centralise Government tech procurement, beefing up the powers of the public service tech tsar and stripping the role from Government agencies.

The Chief Digital Officer - a role that already exists and is held by Department of Internal Affairs chief executive Paul James - will receive broad powers to co-ordinate all technology procurement decisions over virtually all of the public sector.

The Government estimates the move could scythe 30%, or $3.9 billion, off $13b in projected technology costs over the coming five years, The Post can reveal.

“Siloed, bespoke technology solutions will be a thing of the past. Our target is a citizen-focused, digital-first public service like we see in other leading digital nations,” Collins told The Post.

The move will be a key step towards to the Government fully rolling out the Govt.nz app, a one-stop-shop for Government services such as driver licenses, car registrations, tax and super payments, over the coming years, Collins said.

Beside public servants across departments being more likely to get the same laptops and kit over time, the big savings are expected to be in buying fewer systems that are use widely across the sector.

“Basically every agency known to government is out doing its own IT stuff and tech purchases and, of course, one of our big problems with Government is that not much talks to each other, not electronically,” Collins said.

“So instead of everyone going off and doing their own thing and wondering why things don't work together, the point is to have the Government's Chief Digital Officer to lead all the digital investment in procurement,” Collins said.

The move from Collins - who is also Public Service Minister - could materially change a key way in which ministries, departments and government agencies have developed since the 1980s, each being responsible for their own IT and technology requirements.

“This is quite a big change, because since the 1980s every agency's had their own little silo, which doesn't help.”

“We think it's going to save about 30% of projected $13 billion tech spend over the next five years. So it's enormous saving.”

Collins said that the move would make upgrading secure communication across the public sector, which currently, she said, operates largely on emails and attachments.

Collins used the example of the Social Investment Agency which seeks to pull data and information from across the system. She also said that Health NZ still carries the legacy of 20 district health board with their own systems.

“So if you end up in Wellington hospital, as I did a few weeks ago, their information can't be sent to Auckland hospital except for an attachment and an email. And people don't like doing that because it's also pretty insecure.”

While the changes will save money, increase standardisation and kit across the public sector, it is also a part of the Government’s drive to digitise Government services, individual verification and even enable payments over time. Having Government systems procurement coordinated across the sector is a part of that.

To this end, the Chief Digital Officer is responsible for driving the introduction of the Govt.nz app Collins is introducing.

In time the new app will allow Kiwis to receive secure notifications from Government, securely store their verified documents, choose who they share them with and make payments to Government agencies. A digital driver licence is expected to be available in the app by the end of the year.

Collins likens the change from the current disjointed system to the app to the changes in banking over the past few decades, where once even presenting a cheque to a different bank branch from your might require a verifying phone call.

“Nowadays, it's just all one. It doesn't matter where you are, anywhere in the world, you can still access your bank. It's like, why shouldn't you be able to do that with your information?

“And people tell us, they really get annoyed giving the same information over and over and over again, and imagine the time frame and the opportunities for mistakes are huge.

“So this is about bringing government up to date along the lines that the commercial world already has.”