Feds forming faster, bigger, better cloud services panel

The federal government is seeking suppliers to join a refreshed and faster cloud services panel.

The panel was set up in January last year by the Department of Finance for all Commonwealth agencies to procure cloud services.

At present, 112 suppliers have been appointed, from Accenture to Zettagrid. Agencies are now more easily able to procure SaaS, IaaS, PaaS and specialist cloud services by browsing an online catalogue then requesting quotes.

John Sheridan, Australian Government CTO and procurement coordinator, said in a post that the refresh will enable new suppliers to join the panel and expand its scope in line with agency needs and the current market.

Existing panelists would not need to reapply but could suggest new categories of services and add services to any of the service models.

“The approval timeframe for new services will be reduced to 10 business days to provide a greater flexibility and be more responsive to both agencies and panelists,” added Sheridan.

The Request for Tender asks providers to demonstrate that their as-a-service offerings include: on-demand self-service, without the need for human interaction; broad network access; resource pooling; rapid elasticity and measured service, as per NIST definitions of cloud computing.

Specialist services can include cloud integration and optimisation, data conversion, cleansing and migration and the development of cloud-based applications.

The request for tender said tenderers should consider offering services that meet the varying security requirements of different agencies and be willing to undergo security audits.

It also requires tenderers to prove data centres are located within Australian territories if it claims they are.