Victoria prepares to overhaul $170M telco procurement scheme

Will launch enterprise-wide telecommunications strategy in 2021

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The Victorian government is preparing to overhaul its telecommunications procurement scheme and establish a new tranche of contracts worth $170 million annually.

By February 2021, the government expects to merge its Telecommunications Purchasing and Management Strategy (TPAMS) and Victorian Office Telephony Services (VOTS) agreement into one enterprise-wide initiative.

The new whole-of-government scheme will serve as “purpose-built enterprise-wide technical solution for the future state” covering all of Victoria for up to three years.

According to a request for expressions of interest (EOI), the maturity and capability of telecommunications suppliers need to be market-tested ahead of going to tender for the new contract scheme.

Following on from the EOI, the government intends to appoint a supplier to design a purpose-built government network inter-connect to achieve site-to-site communication in a multi-carrier environment.

“As part of the future state solution, you will need to provide delivery scenarios based on how you deliver change/new technologies today against how your organisation aims to deliver into the future,” the EOI read.

The provider will also be required to “understand emerging and innovative solutions” like SD-WAN, 5G, Wi-Fi 6, direct cloud connectivity among others, as well as “consider a mobile workforce”.

In addition, they will need to “secure mobile access… connect to government services and cloud-based services SaaS applications from any location” and also have the “agilty” to support all network and internet of things (IoT) solutions.

They will also need to “scope” NBN services and capabilities, review the overlap of professional services currently provided in eServices and TPAMS agreements and define the overall telecommunications category and align to market industry over one-to-three years.