AGIMO selects suppliers to build government cloud services

The Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO) announced it has selected 35 suppliers to provide cloud services to multiple government agencies as part of a wider data centre strategy.

The cloud services available through the government’s “Data Centre as a Service Multi Use List” include software as a service (SaaS), platform as a service (PaaS) and infrastructure as a service (IaaS) offerings. They cover virtual desktops and servers, disaster recovery and managed backups, e-tending packages and online collaboration tools.

“The MUL will be in place for two years initially, and will be continually updated to reflect changes in the suppliers, services and pricing available to agencies,” AGIMO Agency Services Division first assistant secretary, John Sheridan, wrote in an AGIMO blog post.

“Contracts under this arrangement are limited to $80,000 (GST inclusive) and terms of up to 12 months.”

In July, AGIMO announced its plans to launch a multi-user list, and released an approach to market. Sheridan said at the time that DCaaS “is a departure from historic procurement practice” and “presents an opportunity to significantly simplify procurement of cloud and cloud-like services.”

The lt;igt;Australian Government Data Centre Strategylt;/igt;, published in March 2010, sets out a whole-of-government approach to data centres; to develop a more strategic ICT investment approach, to reduce costs and improve efficiencies.

A lt;igt;Cloud Computing Strategic Direction Paperlt;/igt; was published in April 2011, followed by a series of best practice guides that AGIMO issued this year, which covers the legal, privacy and financial issues of cloud computing.

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