DTA to setup a whole-of-government telco marketplace
The Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) has launched a tender of request to allow companies to apply to become a seller on its soon-to-be launched Telecommunications Marketplace for federal, state, and local government agencies.
Due to be launched by Q2 of 2020, the whole-of-government marketplace will replace existing services made available to government through the existing Mobile and Telecommunications Services panels.
"It will make sourcing telecommunications products and services simpler, clearer, and faster for both buyers and sellers," the DTA said.
The DTA outlined the technologies and services that will be made available through the new marketplace include data carriage; internet carriage; fixed line voice carriage; managed network; unified communications; managed voice; dark fibre; contact centre; mobility; satellite; and managed router services.
Potential sellers will have until 20 January 2020 to apply to be admitted to the new marketplace.
See also: Government IT spending on the rise, report says (TechRepublic)
The DTA had signalled that telecommunications was next on the agency's panel refresh agenda earlier this year.
At the time, the DTA said the motivation for the refresh was driven by the whole-of-government shift to the cloud.
"The increasing migration of services layers and content 'into the cloud' is now well established with product integration trends demonstrated by the convergence of technology and product silos onto platforms based on the Internet Protocol," the DTA wrote at the time. "The impact of this trend is a diminishing clarity between technology specific products, cloud-based products, and virtualised services."
In July, the department went to tender to add more businesses to its Digital Marketplace Panel in a bid to further simplify the procurement process and make it easier for businesses of all sizes to access government contracts.
In its request for proposal, the DTA said it was seeking sellers of digital services in the following areas: Strategy and policy; user research and design; agile delivery and governance; software engineering and development; support and operations; content and publishing; change and transformation; training, learning, and development; marketing, communications, and engagement; cybersecurity; data science; and emerging technologies.
At the time, the DTA also added three new categories: ICT managed services, ICT risk management and audit activities, and digital sourcing/ICT procurement.
The DTA is attempting to spread the AU$6.5 billion spent annually on IT by the Australian government across to smaller players by refreshing the way government procures IT-related services.
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