The Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) has deferred its planned procurement for a new cloud services panel due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis.
The agency had intended to replace its existing Cloud Services Panel (CSP) with a new Cloud Marketplace panel before the former’s expiry on 31 March.
However, the agency has now postponed the procurement until at least June 2020 due to the “significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the unprecedented disruptions being faced by most workplaces”.
Last month, the DTA extended the term of the CSP panel, which hosts over 500 cloud services from over 240 sellers, until to 31 March 2021 in order to allow more time for finalising the new marketplace.
As such, the DTA said it will maintain the current CSP, adding that sellers will “continue to operate to its original scope and specifications under the cloud computing reference architecture”.
While no new partners will be able to join the existing panel, current suppliers are still able to add new cloud offerings or update their current cloud services.
The DTA will also cease the CSP Administration Fee – also known as the Supplier Administration Fee or SAF – which, from April this year, will no longer be charged to suppliers.
The agency first announced plans to overhaul the CSP and create the Marketplace in October last year in order to cater for the demand for ‘Anything-as-a-Service’ (XaaS).
Announced in a discussion paper published on 17 October, the new CMP will aim to create a more “flexible” sourcing arrangement that will “accommodate industry developments and technology advances in cloud computing”.
