ACT wanted in on federal Microsoft deal

The Australian Capital Territory would have liked to have been in on the federal Microsoft volume sourcing contract, according to a general manager of the state's shared services organisation, InTACT.

"In the case of the Commonwealth, we were rather hoping that the commonwealth volume sourcing could be extended to the ACT and other state and territory jurisdictions," Michael Chisnall, general manager of InTACT said last month in the state's budget estimate hearings. "Unfortunately, that was not to be the case at the end of the day. Microsoft managed to limit the relationship to the Commonwealth."

However, the federal deal still benefited the territory, he said, since the type of agreements and clauses within the agreements negotiated with Microsoft could still be used by the states. They could also benefit from the large account reseller agreement the Federal Government had signed with Data#3.

The $13 million, six-year enterprise agreement which InTACT held with Microsoft expired at the end of last month. Chisnall said that the government was negotiating another one, which would be worth around $3 million per annum. The state's $7 million agreement with Data#3 for Microsoft licences and services is set to expire at the end of this month.

The Federal Government has already flagged its intention to sign similar whole-of-government deals with other suppliers, with one upcoming area being telecommunications.