AT A GLANCE  

Services Australia's insatiable appetite for contingent labour continues, HealthShare NSW posts its highest value ICT contract, and two contracted cyber security assessments could lead to market opportunities.   

Agencies mentioned: Services Australia, HealthShare NSW, NSW Electoral Commission, DPC (SA), NSW SES, Fire & Rescue NSW, DFFH (Vic), DHAC (Fed), DFAT (Fed).  

Suppliers mentioned: INDEX Consultants, Modis Staffing, Oracle, Synergy Group, Dynatrace, Telstra, DELL, Data#3, Bay Technologies, Micro Focus, PwC, CyberCX, Addcom Contact Solutions, Apttus Corporation, VMware, Quantium Health, oobe.  

LEADS  

The NSW Electoral Commission's six-week contract with PwC for Cyber and Physical Threat Analysis expired in June 2022. The agency is likely to approach the market  if the assessment finds that the agency is lacking any cyber security tools or capabilities – a probable outcome, given the Commission’s recent history. The NSW Electoral Commission was one of the agency recipients of the NSW 2022-23 budget's $33 million multi-agency investment in cyber security.   

South Australia's Department of the Premier and Cabinet is also undertaking a cyber security maturity assessment of agency capabilities, contracting CyberCX for $597,000 (DPC21/1863). The contract expires in June 2023, so any subsequent approaches to market are likely to be in early 2023-24.  

CONTRACTS OF NOTE 

Services Australia edged out HealthShare NSW as the agency responsible for the most high-value contracts posted this week, spanning labour hire, hardware, software and telco.  

A 12-month $19.4 million contract (CN3891860) with Modis Staffing and a two-year $13 million (CN3891866) contract with INDEX Consultants point to Services Australia's insatiable appetite for contingent labour. Intermedium reported last week that Services Australia's use of ICT contractors had jumped significantly over the ten months to April 2022, according to the findings of a recent audit. The ratio of public servants to contractors remained steady, despite a ministerial directive to bring expertise in-house. 

Services Australia also posted an $8.8 million hardware contract (CN3891887) with Dell (although they continue to say the contract is with Dell’s 2016 acquisition, EMC), an $8.6 million telco services contract (CN3891554) with Telstra, and an $8 million hardware and software maintenance and support contract (CN3891856) with Oracle.   

Two Services Australia contracts also got significant amendments. Its $22.6 million licence contract (CN3759213) with Dynatrace increased to $37.2 million and will expire in March 2025, and its IT services contract (CN3793072) with Synergy Group to expire in June 2023 now stands at $25.4 million following its second amendment.  

While Services Australia was the most active agency, the highest value ICT contract across Australia published this week goes to HealthShare NSW, which posted a $137 million two-year Microsoft Enterprise Licences agreement (SCM0020-40-90-02) with Data#3. 

HealthShare NSW also published a $10.6 million Mobile & Enterprise Voice Services contract (SCM0020-75-148) with Telstra due to expire in June 2025; a $3.4 million eApprovals Solution contract (SCM0020-436-01) with Bay Technologies, also due to expire in June 2025, and a $2.2 million Content Manager Trim Support Services contract (SCM0020-444-01) with Micro Focus due to expire in June 2024.   

The other NSW agencies reporting contracts above $1 million were the State Emergency Service, which posted a three-year $2.8 million contract (NSWSES000512) with Telstra for the supply of iPhones and iPads (and device management), and Fire & Rescue NSW, which posted a five year $1 million contract (RFx175441) for the ESCAD Recording System Upgrade Project with Addcom Contact Solutions.  

Victoria's Department of Families, Fairness and Housing has signed a $1.1 million one-year contract (C11334) with business process automation software provider Apttus Corporation to support the Fairer Victoria Grants Management Solution. According to Intermedium’s data, this is the first contract posted for Apttus in any jurisdiction. 

The Federal government's Department of Health and Aged Care posted two contracts in the week: a $14.8 million enterprise licence agreement (ELA) (CN3892232) with VMware due to expire in June 2025 and a $9 million contract (CN3893037) for Data Analytics Services to Support Health Provider Compliance with Quantium Health due to expire in June 2023.  

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has posted a $10.2 million software support services contract (CN3892791) with Fujitsu’s newly acquired services company  oobe, due to expire in July 2025. The contract will be oobe's largest to date with DFAT.