Defence warns of lengthy regional ICT deliberations

Defence today issued a statement saying the evaluation of tender responses for the deal was not expected to be completed until at least December 2006 -- more than 12 months after the tender closed on 25 November 2005.

The agency -- which is market-testing its regional ICT service delivery requirements to see if external contractors can deliver them more efficiently and at lower cost than its own staff -- said it had received six compliant responses, including one from an in-house team.

This number was, Defence said, "better than expected".

"While Defence has commenced evaluation, the significant number of compliant tender responses and the complexity of the ... task means that, at this stage, the evaluation process is not expected to be completed until December 2006," it said.

"The project expects that a recommendation will be made to Defence's Information Technology Market Testing Board on the preferred contracting option and preferred tenderer in mid-to-late December 2006".

The ICT service management tender encompasses 460 Defence bases and sites and affects about 640 positions -- 470 from the public service and 170 from the Australian Defence Force.

External tenderers who submitted compliant responses were Australian Base Services, EDS, Kaz Technology Services, Unisys and Volante, while the in-house bid came from a group called Information Communication Excellence.

The tender was first issued in July last year.

Services being tested are believed to include desktop management, e-mail, networks and servers.