Economies of scale, intra-ministry standardisation and high service-level agreement standards belie the massive commitment.

The CEO of the Australian Government’s Digital Transformation Agency, Randall Brugeaud, has announced a volume-sourcing agreement with a sole IT vendor to transform infocomm technology procurement and enjoy significant savings on third-party software support for major software products.

The vendor in question is Rimini Street, Inc., a global provider of enterprise software products and services, which is a third-party support provider for Oracle and SAP software products and a Salesforce partner.

Said Brugeaud: “The Digital Transformation Agency continues to expand whole-of-government volume sourcing agreements to ensure that agencies have ready access to the best pricing, terms and conditions that leverage the buying power of government.”

Rimini Street already works with a number of government agencies in Australia, including the NSW Department of Family and Community Services, and the Victorian Government Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources, among others.

All Rimini Street clients, whether private or public organisations, get access to the vendor’s premium-level enterprise software support model, including a Service Level Agreement (SLA) of 15-minute response times for all critical Priority 1 cases, and an assigned Primary Support Engineer (PSE) with an average of 15 years’ experience in their particular enterprise software system. Rimini Street also provides support for a client’s current enterprise software system for a minimum of 15 years from the time that they made the switch.

According to Emmanuelle Hose, regional general manager for Australia and New Zealand, Rimini Street: “Government agencies of all sizes now have easier access to an affordable alternative for their enterprise software maintenance, and more options to consider in support of the GovERP Initiative. This agreement provides an opportunity for government organisations to take back control of their IT roadmaps and drive innovation while lowering costs.”

For readers’ quick reference, GovERP is part of the Australian government’s controversial Shared Services Program, which seeks “to consolidate, standardise and automate the delivery of core transactional corporate services across non-corporate Commonwealth entities.”