Vol. 571 No. 4
237 Mr. Grealish asked the Minister for Finance the way in which the tendering process for the telecom services in the Houses of the Oireachtas and Government Buildings is carried out; when the last tender was advertised; the number of applications which were received; when the contract is due for renewal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21974/03]
The Government's 1999 action plan for the information society assigned the task of developing a virtual private network, VPN, for a range of telecommunications services for the public sector to the Department of Finance. Following a development of requirements with an inter-organisational VPN, the procurement group my Department advertised an open EU procurement exercise for telecommunications services in February 2001. Four responses were received. Following an extensive evaluation exercise using the advertised qualification and award criteria, my Department signed a contract for these services in May 2002 on behalf of the non-commercial public service and available to all bodies therein on a draw-down basis.
With respect to voice services – fixed, mobile and 18XX tele-services – this contract is for a period of three years. It is extendible, at my Department's discretion, for a further two years to a maximum of five years.
With respect to data services – managed data, managed Internet access and managed remote access – this contract is for a period of two years. It is extendible, at my Department's discretion, on a yearly basis, to a maximum of five years. My Department will avail of a cross-sectoral representative programme board to review the contract and its operation at those times when it falls for renewal. Managed fixed voice services and managed data services to provide e-government services are mandatory under this contract. All other services are at the discretion of individual Departments, Offices and agencies.
With respect to Government Buildings, my Department, the Department of the Taoiseach and the Office of the Attorney General use this contract for all of their telecommunication needs. I understand that the Houses of the Oireachtas use this contract for managed fixed voice services and that it has implemented a link that it will shortly begin to use for data and Internet access services.
