Home Affairs extends non-mainframe IBM deal early for $35m

Home Affairs has added two-and-a-half years to a hardware and software maintenance and support arrangement with IBM covering its non-mainframe environments, bringing the contract up to $103 million.

The department, which has federal law enforcement and national and transport security agencies under its remit, quietly extended the IBM deal at the start of last month.

It will now run until mid-2030.

A Home Affairs spokesperson said the department “has amended its IBM contract to extend existing IBM software, hardware and maintenance support arrangements through to 2030.”

“The two-and-a-half-year extension provides a continuation of existing arrangements for hardware and software maintenance and support (primarily non-mainframe software support),” the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added that an undisclosed “number of minor existing work orders were also consolidated into this contract amendment.”

They added that “existing provisions in the contract for hardware and software remain unchanged.”

iTnews understands that the early extension to the deal will result in cost savings, compared to waiting until closer to the expiry.

The extension of the deal is worth $35.7 million, bringing what was initially a $67.6 million deal up to $103 million. 

It was procured through the whole-of-government arrangement that the Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) has with IBM.