WA Police Force is set to source “hundreds of millions of dollars” of IT and application services from the end of next month in what it’s calling “one of Australia’s largest” technology services deals.
The force quietly revealed the large-scale sourcing project at the end of last week.
It could set up technology services arrangements spanning the next decade, although initial terms of work are for between three and five years, with a series of extensions.
The police force will take six packages of work to market.
These are IT management services, including help desk, disaster recovery and asset management services; cyber security; infrastructure services, such as data centres and database management; end user computing; and two packages for application development services for Microsoft and Oracle systems respectively.
Executive director Frank Pasquale said the sourcing arrangements “marked an important milestone in the digital evolution of the WA Police Force.”
“Technology continues to develop at a rapid pace, and it’s essential that we provide our dedicated officers with the latest devices, systems and software,” Pasquale said.
“While the WA Police Force already uses technology effectively to solve crimes and respond to the community’s policing needs, these new ICT services contracts will further boost their capabilities by enabling a more seamless integration of systems and technology.”
An ‘early tender advice’ notice suggests that the formal approach to market will come from September 30 onwards.
It points to the force’s operational challenges in terms of having “the largest jurisdiction globally; managing 200 police facilities, 15 policing districts, and 10,530 employees across 2.5 million square kilometres of Western Australia.”
The force indicated that it wanted technology services that can “meet and address the …. technical, geographical, logistical and financial” challenges it faces - and will face - over the course of the next decade.
Contract records show that WA Police Force has at least two long-term IT services arrangements that are set to expire in early 2026.
These are a $260 million infrastructure services arrangement with Kinetic IT, and a $185 million application support and maintenance services agreement with Akkodis Australia.
Both deals have been in place since 2008 and were sourced under what was then known as the state government’s strategic partnering in resourcing technology or SPIRIT framework, a marketplace arrangement [pdf] that all government buyers were expected to use at that time.
In an indication of the elevation of the role of IT’s status within the force, it recently sought to recognise technology partners that were delivering a significant capability uplift to its operational needs.
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