Senator Kate Lundy has accused the Howard government of leaving Australian small and medium-sized IT enterprises out in the cold in favour of the big end of town.

The Shadow Minister for Information Technology said that Senator Alston has given up on his commitment to find ways to increase SME participation in government IT contracts.

In April last year, Senator Alston announced that he would develop an IT outsourcing industry development framework to encourage growth of Australia's information and communications technology sector.

Senator Lundy said it became apparent that the government had dropped its plan to pursue the framework during Senate Estimates hearings late in February. She said the government has instead referred the matter to an ICT industry development committee that is yet to be formed.

In the meantime, said Lundy, the government has chosen to deal with industry development issues within the tender process for each contract.

"It's not account able and no-one knows what to expect," said Lundy. "I believe everyone should know".

If the framework is abandoned, Lundy believes that the Federal Government will be giving large enterprises a great advantage over SMEs.

While large IT goods and services suppliers can manoeuvre to meet the government tenders quickly, SMEs need more time to structure their companies towards the contracts.

She also said that without guidelines to dictate enterprise participation in government tenders, SMEs are left in a vulnerable position.

"It's no good to be lined-up against the wall by a multinational and told what their price will be," said Lundy.

Senator Alston's office was contacted for comment in response to Senator Lundy's claims, but failed to return ZDNet Australia's calls by press time.

Copyright © 2009 CBS Interactive, a CBS Company. All Rights Reserved.
ZDNET is a registered service mark of CBS Interactive. ZDNET Logo is a service mark of CBS Interactive.