The Department of Defence's project management division - the Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO) - is seeking a new contractor for broad ICT services – from engineering to training.
The IT support is required at the DMO’s Command and Intelligence Systems Support Office (CISSO), which manages a range of defence command and intelligence support systems.
The DMO employs more than 7500 people in 40 locations around Australia and overseas. In 2008 and 2009 it will spend more than $9.6 billion acquiring and sustaining military equipment and services for the defence forces.
In a statement, the DMO said it requires “a single contractor to provide a range of ICT support services including: operating support, engineering support, maintenance support, supply support and training support”.
With about 44 per cent of total defence budget at its disposal, the DMO has a capital budget of more than $4.6 billion for this year and is now managing some 230 large projects and 180 minor projects.
Systems supported by the CISSO include a “significant fleet” of modular, deployable LANs (DLAN) which are used on exercises and on operations overseas and the Special Operations Command Support System (SOCSS) – an “evolving” system consisting of deployable hardware and software applications centered around Wyvern, an in-house military software system that provides tools for the conduct of special forces operations.
The IT support partner must be “a single incorporated entity and must register interest for the entire scope of work”.
This request coincides with the DMO Support Services (DMOSS) panel refresh for 2009 which is aimed at ensuring that “new skill sets and panelists are able to be considered for inclusion in DMOSS on an ‘as-required’ basis”, while ensuring the DMOSS panel delivers value for money outcomes.
“These combined aims are directed at ensuring that DMO and defence, and industry-business, are appropriately responsive to the rapidly evolving defence support services industry environment in 2009 and beyond,” according to DMO.