The NSW government has expanded its existing volume sourcing agreement with IBM just two years in to give agencies access to cloud services.
The vendor revealed the revised whole-of-government agreement on Wednesday, which it said would deliver cost savings to the NSW government over the next three years.
IBM said the agreement would “provide a more streamlined process for agencies to access emerging technology”, making specific mention of IBM hybrid cloud, artificial intelligence and security.
IBM Garage – essentially a network of physical hubs aimed at helping customers quickly turn ideas into products – will also be available to “accelerate innovation and advance workforce skills”, it said.
A spokesperson told iTnews the five-year agreement – originally signed in 2019 – had been “expanded to accommodate consumption of cloud and services”, including both public cloud and SaaS.
“When the agreement was signed in 2019, it was limited to IBM technology hardware and software, and has now expanded to include IBM professional services and IBM cloud services,” IBM said.
“IBM Garage is part of the professional services offering and is therefore a part of the addition to this agreement.
“With access to this, government agencies will be able to explore impacts of new technology such as blockchain, IoT and AI computing on government services.”
IBM currently supports a number of departments and agencies across the government’s nine clusters, including NSW Police and Transport for NSW.
IBM’s Australia and New Zealand managing director Katrina Troughton said the partnership would help foster a culture that advances the skills profile of the state and create job opportunities.
“After more than 30 years of working with the NSW government, this is an important milestone for our relationship and we look forward to collaborating on solutions that impact the lives of the more than eight million people who call NSW home,” she said.
IBM is one of several tech giants to hold a whole-of-government agreement with the NSW government, with the others being Microsoft, Oracle and Salesforce.
The NSW government also has specific cloud purchasing arrangement (CPA) contracts with Vault Systems, Amazon Web Services and Microsoft.
Updated at 12:30pm to include additional information from IBM
