Defence mulls over $36M regional deal

The Department of Defence is mulling over whether to keep the management of IT services at its regional bases in-house or outsource a potentially $36 million contract to an outside supplier.

The department is in the process of determining whether regional services would be better delivered by an outside provider or be retained in-house, a Defence spokesperson told CRN.

Defence initiated a project last year dubbed the "Regional Information and Communications Technology Market Testing" (RICTMT) project to try and ascertain the best way of providing services its regional bases.

Currently, Defence's regional ICT personnel have maintained and supported the department's infrastructure at these locations.

Through the project, Defence will evaluate commercial and an in-house proposals for providing ICT services, with an annual value expected to be between $28 million and $36 million over nine years.

External supplies being considered for the contract include Australian Base Services, EDS Australia, KAZ Technology Services, Unisys Australia and Volante Systems.

The Defence representative said the decision to outsource or to retain them in-house will be based on overall pricing, technical capabilities of suppliers, potential risk to Defence in the event of failure.

The scope of these services currently covers ICT service management across 460 Defence bases and sites, 470 public service positions and 170 Australian Defence Force positions, Defence said.

The evaluation process was expected to be completed by December 2006.