Tanner opens Gershon datacentre panel tender

Industry called to submit expressions of interest to provide interim datacentre facilities and services as part of Gershon changes

By Trevor Clarke, Sydney | Friday, 29 May 2009
The Federal Government will create a panel of datacentre providers to supply space and services to agencies during the development of the whole-of-government datacentre strategy instigated as part of the Gershon review.
In a press release, Minister for Finance and Deregulation, Lindsay Tanner, invited expressions of interest from the IT industry to maintain interim services during the strategy’s development process.

“We have already had extensive interactions with industry and agencies to inform this strategy and are considering all the options available to us,” he says in the statement.

Candidates for the panel can offer datacentre facilities that are purpose-built and energy efficient in one or both of two locations: Within the ACT and outside the ACT.
Those offering facilities in either the ACT or other locations must provide between 1000sqm and 2000sqm of floor space – or the equivalent in multiple sites with a minimum of 500sqm per site – and be ready for fit out during the 2009/10 financial year.

The announcement comes after Tanner ruled out using one supplier or a super datacentre as part of the Gershon review changes at a conference held by the Australian Computer Society (ACS) in Canberra in March.
The Gershon Review, which was publicly released in October, slammed the Federal Government’s use and management of ICT as both ineffective and inefficient.

The report noted the absence of a whole-of-government strategic plan for datacentres could cost taxpayers up to A$1 billion over 15 years if a more coordinated approach wasn’t implemented.
Expressions of interest must be lodged electronically at the government AusTender site – www.tenders.gov.au – by 2pm on June 22.