SA govt extends major IT contracts

The South Australian (SA) Government has extended a number of whole-of-government information technology panel contracts for hardware, software and services.

A printer and photocopier equipment panel contract, which had been due to expire in December 2009, was extended in January to run to 31 December 2011, according to department spokesperson Ross Stargatt. The five suppliers, Canon, Fuji-Xerox, HP, Kyocera and Ricoh, are continuing to provide the government with print and photocopy services estimated to have been worth $72.5 million over the last two years.

Similarly, a desktop and server panel has been given a longer run time. "In December 2009, the client computing and server equipment panel contracts were extended, now expiring on 30th June 2011. There are three suppliers on the panel, Acer, Dell and HP," Stargatt said. "All three suppliers can supply desktops, notebooks and server equipment."

The desktop and server spend had been estimated at $112 million for its three-year initial term.

The SA Government has also extended a database and utilities software and services agreement with Oracle. Instead of ending in December 2009 it will finish up in December 2012. As the agreement only sets out standard terms and conditions for future government purchases, there was no cost attached to the deal.

In the midst of the extensions, the government is also currently undergoing an open procurement process for its Cisco active devices panel contract. Cisco, Alphawest, Dimension Data and NEC were on that panel.

"An expression of interest was released to the market in September 2009, and responses are currently under evaluation," said Stargatt. He also explained that the government are seeking approval to allow an interim extension of the current agreement to give the government more time to conclude the expression of interest process.