Department of Human Services’ arrangement with Telstra
- 26
- Jun
On Monday 25 June 2012 the Minister for Human Services announced his Department’s $474 million agreement with Telstra. The agreement is a culmination of a procurement process that the Department commenced in 2010 and incorporates the use of two coordinated procurement panel arrangements established by the Department of Finance and Deregulation (Finance) in 2011.
As part of the agreement with Telstra, Finance has entered into a $115 million five-year arrangement with Telstra for the provision of data services to Human Services through the Internet Based Network Connection Services Panel (IBNCS). Another component of the agreement with Telstra is an arrangement for the provision of mobile carriage services through the Telecommunications Commodities, Carriage and Associated Services Panel (TCCAS).
Savings of around $50 million, over a period of four years, are to be returned to Government through the use of the IBNCS panel arrangement. The arrangement Finance has entered into with Telstra will significantly contribute to achieving this target.
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Great work by the team in AGIMO working with DHS in developing requirements and establishing the agreement. Further evidence of the benefits of our whole of government procurement arrangements.
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ICT Strategy and Governance??? Ha!
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I’m sorry, Stephen, but I don’t understand your comment. What are you trying to say?
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Good to see savings/value driven agreement for the provisioning of data services through IBNCS.
Excellent.
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Hi John
It was a comment made in frustration. My personal opinion only, but one that I feel is shared by government agencies and of course the big telcos and smaller providers is that procuring through IBNC is akin to trying to make souffle with a sausage machine.
All the issues that are coming to light and will come to light were fed back to government at the IBNC EOI stage. None of these issues were truly considered because IBNC was a political football that had to keep rolling. Square pegs are being forced into round holes that once again I personally feel leads to the wrong outcomes for the end users.
In relation to the DHS outcome:
Governance – those close to the deal know how this result came about. Claiming that it is based on the presence of those specific panels is a loose assertion based on convenience.
ICT Strategy: Kudos to Telstra ...
... here for managing a political outcome very well. Bundling outside of the original RFT’s knowing it could be shaped as someone else’s strategy was gold.
Let’s watch this space for the perceived benefits.
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Hi Stephen
I’m afraid you are mistaken on this matter. We have signed more than 30 IBNC contracts and have about the same number in the pipeline. Savings have been considerable. Even when we have just moved an existing service onto the IBNC terms and conditions, the existing vendor has regularly offered considerable discounts.
I was responsible for this work and I can assure you there was no political pressure of any sort. We took into account the comments we received during consultation and adjusted the project accordingly.
There is no doubt that the market for this type of service is now much more competitive than it was previously. I haven’t noticed any reluctance from vendors to offer quotations for the services. This has been another example of coordinated procurement success and teamwork between agencies.
Regards
John
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