Health boards get help to run tenders

By ADAM GIFFORD

The Waitemata and South Auckland health boards' healthAlliance shared services consortium is using a project system from Auckland start-up iTools Online to manage its supplier selection.

Procurement manager Warren Sharp said the software, Tools@work, allowed eight procurement staff to manage their projects from all sites.

"Otherwise we would be forever driving up and down the Southern Motorway," Sharp said.

"It means all of our people can see where a tender is up to. It provides a structured approach for all parties and improves clarity."

Eventually the system would be opened up to suppliers so they could see when hospitals planned to start procurement projects, he said.

Once suppliers were selected by the healthAlliance team, the procurement was processed through a module in the hospitals' Oracle 11i system.

Sharp said that, while there were features in 11i that would do a similar job, "the iTools solutions could be used immediately and cost-effectively".

Tools@work costs $80 a user a month.

iTools