After years of pitching, IT services provider, Area9, has won two contracts worth a combined total of more than $7 million for the provision of PCs to the Northern Territory (NT) Government.
The Darwin-headquartered HP partner revealed on 11 July that it had won the contracts following a competitive tendering process for the highly contested desktop PC and laptop supply contracts.
According to Area9, the nation’s Department of Corporate and Information Services (DCIS), which holds responsibility for the contract management on behalf of the NT Government and its agencies, listed the laptop and desktop estimated contract values at $4,007,763 and $3,011,426 respectively.
The multi-year contracts are for the supply and maintenance of all desktop, laptop and tablet PC’s across the NT Government and its agencies. It is understood that the contracts terms come with an initial period of three years, with the option to extend by a further two years.
The contracts include the supply and maintenance of end user computing equipment to be used by NT Government staff across metro, regional and remote areas of the Territory.
Under the deal, Area9’s Darwin-based procurement, service centre and service delivery teams will be responsible for all the supply chain and delivery requirements, as well as meeting the contractual obligations and coordinating all support activities relating to the hardware.
According to Area9 director, Simon Watt, the company had been angling to win these deals for the better part of the past decade, each time bidding with HP equipment. Finally, the company has come out as the winner.
“It’s a piece of business we’ve been chasing for many years,” Watt told ARN. “This is our third attempt at it over several years.”
ARN understands that the HP products on which the successful bid was based are not currently used in tender arrangement within the NT Government.
“Area9 has worked hard to deliver a winning solution, one that validates Area9 as a leading ICT industry product and service provider across the region,” Watt said. “Area9 has an enviable record of addressing the diverse needs of Territory clients ranging across government and the private sector.
“It’s also an important win for our partner HP, who have worked with us over many years and reflects both the strength of their product offering and their long term commitment to the Northern Territory,” he said.
Since 2007, Area9 has delivered IT services and products into the commercial and public sector in the NT and Queensland. The company delivers technology-as-a-service either through its cloud hosting data centre or via onsite infrastructure.
The company counts Microsoft, HP, Adobe, Citrix, VmWare, Cisco, Lenovo and Apple among its vendor partners.
In May 2016, Area9 was appointed as a supplier on the QLD/NT LocalBuy (Local Government) Supplier Contracts (A) - ICT Commodities (Hardware/Software and Associated Services, and (D) - ICT Managed Services procurement arrangements.
