Defence moves to refresh IT services mega panel

The Department of Defence has moved to refresh its massive IT services panel less than two years after the arrangement was created to ensure it continues to offer up-to-date services.

The department’s chief information officer group on Tuesday called on new IT suppliers to sign up to the panel as part of its first periodic refresh of the ICT provider arrangement (ICTPA).

The ICTPA was established in July 2018 to replace Defence’s former system integrator panel known as the applications managed service partner agreement (AMSPA).

It was designed to allow Defence, as well as other government agencies, to become a more sophisticated buyer of IT services, in line with the 2015 First Principles Review. 

The panel, which will exist for up to ten year, introduced a contemporary, flexible buying model that improves competition by inviting “niche” suppliers to take part.

It covers a wider scope of services than AMSPA, offering services across three domains: system integration, application services and IT services defined by the internationally.

More than 130 panelists now provide services across ICTPA’s three domains, making it one of the federal government's largest panel arrangements.

Defence said the refresh will ensure the panel has “up-to-date technology capabilities and skill sets covered and that the Commonwealth has an appropriate mix of providers to source  from”.

“ICTPA refreshes also provide the opportunity for new suppliers and those suppliers who were not successful in the initial procurement to put forward renewed submissions to enter into partnership with the Commonwealth,”  Defence documents state.

The refresh will be supported by a co-design process that includes a “series of collaborative co-design workshops” with potential new suppliers for the redesign and delivery of the ICTPA.

The workshops, which will also be attended by existing panelists, Defence stakeholders and representatives from other agencies, are expected to be held between June and September.