The Federal Government has appointed Don Easter as its new IT Supplier Advocate in a bid to help local SME technology companies gain better access to the government IT procurement market.
Innovation Minister, Senator Kim Carr, said Easter’s primary responsibility would be to make Australian IT companies become more visible to government customers and multinational IT firms.
“With the Commonwealth Government being the single largest customer for IT in Australia, it is vital that we have access to the innovation capacity of nimble local SMEs – and equally that SMEs have access to government opportunities in order to build their capabilities and export credentials,” Carr said in a statement.
Easter, who has held senior executive roles at EDS Australia and Westpac, joins a growing stable of supplier advocates, which already includes the steel and rail industries.
The supplier advocates are funded under the Federal Government’s $8.2 million Supplier Advocates Program, and which is aimed at providing business development leadership in targeted industry sectors.