DTA plans whole-of-government ‘telco marketplace’

New procurement arrangements expected to launch early next year

Credit: ID 55578362 © Victor Diola Jr | Dreamstime

Canberra’s Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) is gearing up for new telecommunications procurement arrangements.

The DTA revealed today it plans to launch a ‘Telecommunications Marketplace’ that it said in a blog entry would “replace and expand” the current mobile and telecommunications services panels.

“It will make sourcing telecommunications products and services simpler, clearer and faster for both buyers and sellers,” the blog entry said.

The marketplace is expected to be launched early next year.

The DTA has issued a request for tender for service providers to participate. The agency intends to lock-in the maximum prices of products and services offered through marketplace for 12 months, with annual reviews for sellers.

The RFT process is expected to close on 20 January.

The marketplace will have 12 categories: Data carriage services; internet carriage services; fixed line voice carriage services; managed network services; managed unified communications services; managed voice services; dark fibre services; contact centre systems; mobility services; satellite services; and managed router services.

The DTA’s TFT documents include a statement of requirements for each category.

Last month the agency revealed the government’s plan for an online cloud marketplace. That marketplace is expected to be operational by July 2020 and will replace the current Cloud Services Panel (CSP), which was originally launched in 2015.

In mid-2019, the government renewed and revamped its volume sourcing arrangement (VSA) with Microsoft.

The software company said that the new-look VSA would make Microsoft 365 available to federal government agencies on a cost-effective basis and “opens the door to accelerated adoption of Microsoft Azure and Dynamics 365”. Less than 2 per cent of the Commonwealth is expected to remain on legacy on-premises licences, Microsoft said in July.

Earlier in the year Canberra inked a new VSA with Amazon Web Services, and in mid-2018 signed a deal with IBM estimated to be worth $1 billion over five years.

Another VSA covers SAP and concur.

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