Papua New Guinea is moving into the next phase of its public financial management reforms after signing a K26 million, three-year agreement with Australian enterprise software company TechnologyOne.
The Software-as-a-Service agreement will upgrade and support the Government’s Integrated Financial Management System, which has been rolled out across all 22 provinces. The system provides the digital backbone for managing public expenditure and connecting national, provincial and local levels of government.
According to the Government, the IFMS now covers 43 national departments, provincial health authorities, 89 districts, more than 313 local-level governments and 26 statutory bodies.
The new agreement moves the program beyond the initial rollout towards long-term system support, improved institutional capability and greater use of cloud-based technology.
It will also introduce artificial intelligence tools designed to help public servants interrogate financial information using text and voice commands, check budget availability, track expenditure and streamline approval processes.
TechnologyOne says further work will include enhanced cash receipting, capital project tracking, electronic funds transfers and stronger integration between government systems. Planned application programming interfaces are expected to allow greater connectivity with organisations including the Internal Revenue Commission, Bank South Pacific, Investment Promotion Authority and Bank of Papua New Guinea.
Secretary for Finance Samuel Penias said the investment was intended to strengthen transparency, accountability and the security of Papua New Guinea’s financial systems.
The project also includes training aimed at developing the ability of permanent Papua New Guinea public servants to manage the system over the longer term.
For businesses operating in Papua New Guinea, improvements to government financial administration have wider implications. More effective expenditure monitoring, payment processing and project tracking can help improve the operating environment, particularly for companies supplying government or participating in public infrastructure programs.
The agreement comes as Papua New Guinea seeks to accelerate the digitisation of government services and improve links between public institutions.
