The Government’s drive towards e-enablement has been well charted over the past number of years. Indeed, following the technology slump, selling to the government was seen as a major boost to any company’s balance sheet in a time when finding customers willing to spend big on IT was not the easiest task. Many companies used that time effectively and became close suppliers to the Government.
Now with tenders being driven through the Etenders website (www.etenders.gov.ie) the opportunities for IT suppliers to develop business with the government are more transparent than ever.
The key technological driver behind the Government’s plans is to develop what it terms “joined-up government.” This is based on the fundamental philosophy that citizens and organisations that previously would have to deal with multiple governmental agencies should have a single point of contact through which to transact their dealings with the State. The other aspect of the drive to e-enable government was to streamline the processes and procedures of various departments and agencies.
Central to all of this was the development of the government virtual private network (VPN), the backbone at the heart of providing e-government services.
The core of this is the data VPN from Eircom, which is a fully managed IP platform built exclusively for the Government. This is a resilient, MPLS-enabled private IP network at the core of delivering a wide range of electronic initiatives. Investment in the VPN was required to meet the following criteria:
- Eliminate ad hoc connectivity solutions with one single platform for all current and future communications
- Provide seamless, secure information sharing within and between the various government agencies; safely connect with authorised partner groups and remote agents (such as doctors, for example)
- Make certain ring-fenced applications directly available to the public, without compromising the security of your internal IT services; provide cost-effective
- Faster Internet connectivity for web-browsing and e-mail
Significant relationship
There are over 150 government agencies connected to the government data VPN including all of the main central government departments, all health boards, most local authorities and a wide range of health, educational and industry agencies.
“The government contract is quite a significant relationship for Eircom,” said Martin Conlan, e-government programme manager at Eircom. It is also critically important to the government as the VPN underpins the whole e-government initiative.
“In terms of the data services each agency has a range of choices,” says Conlon. “It acts as a key enabler for the provision of e-government services. This includes everything from motor tax, revenue online and the likes. It also facilitates the sharing of applications in health for example.”
The five-year contract, in existence for three-years already, has come under criticism from other vendors eager to gain access to such a lucrative partnership, worth a rumoured €60 million a year.
According to Brendan Moran, CEO, of MinuteBuyer, the Dublin-based corporate telecoms provider: “The rates that Eircom is charging the government are 30-40 per cent higher than the rates currently available in the Irish marketplace. Cost savings of €20 million could be made for the tax payer on a yearly basis, if the government went to tender with this contract.”
Esat BT has also been grumbling in the wings but Eircom has prevailed and others will have to wait another two years before the contract goes up for tender again.
Suppliers’ viewpoint
But from a supplier’s point of view, is dealing with the government vastly different from dealing with private companies?
“It is like dealing with any other organisation and helping them achieve their objectives,” said Ronan Kneafsey of Eircom. “People tend to think of the government as one big homogenous organisation but it is not. There are hundreds of agencies, many of whom can act like big corporates, and then there are the smaller agencies who have business needs you would probably more associate with the needs of an SME. But in essence I don’t think it is that different from dealing with other organisations.”
The one thing providers have to have is an in-depth understanding of the procurement regulations that govern public sector purchases.
“Knowledge of how to engage with government is the key to success,” said Colm McVeigh, head of corporate, government and business at Vodafone. “Vodafone has a dedicated government team that focuses on serving the specific needs of the public sector. I would absolutely recommend having a team focused on government if a company is looking at supplying government to any significant degree. They need to understand the agenda, the procurement process and understand why and how they procure.”
Vodafone provides its Government Mobile Office product (based on its standard Wireless Office product, which aims to introduce cost saving tariffs, free internal calls and enhanced functionality to corporate and SME customers) to the public sector.
This enables public sector employees to avail of unlimited free calls to all other mobile phones and landlines on the Government VPN. This includes more than 26,000 individual civil servants as Vodafone helps the government develop a one-phone strategy to make the public sector more dynamic, flexible and responsive.
Along with cost savings, the solution proposition represents a significant enhancement to the current offering by Vodafone to government bodies. But as it builds a closer relationship with the public sector what are the differences to life in the purely commercial world?
“The critical difference in dealing with government, for example, is that the government wants to look at mobility to drive efficiencies and become more productive and enable them to provide more services,” said McVeigh, “whereas in the commercial world it would be driven more by lowering costs.”
Different constituencies
McVeigh does see some differences in dealing with the government and agrees with the Eircom view that it is not about one giant organisation.
“I would say that they do tend to act in different constituencies, such as central government, local government and health,” he says. “You have to know the different needs and the systems and applications they want to have access to.”
But once you develop a relationship it will be worth the effort.
“The bottom line is that working closely with the government leads to good business but you need to understand the government agenda from the centre and the implications for all other agencies,” said McVeigh.
The government has also proved to be technically aware and advanced when it comes to procuring IT.
“I think the government is very aware when it comes to purchasing,” said Conlon from Eircom. “The VPN is one of the most advanced IT networks in the country. It is very much leading edge stuff.”
So do companies deal directly with agencies or spend their time dealing with external consultants brought into advise the government?
“I think in general you will find that the larger government departments have strength and dept and have the necessary internal skills to evaluate projects,” said Conlon. “Smaller government agencies are more likely to rely on the advice of external consultants depending on the project.”
But when the tender goes up for grabs in two years what happens if eircom loses out? Will all that investment be in vain?
“The government is a very demanding customer but it’s an investment we have benefited from and will continue to benefit from going forward. But we are confident of the technical value and services we can role out due to the investment we have made in this project,” said Eircom’s Kneafsey.
For firms who establish the relationship one of the key areas when supplying the government is the potential size of the contract.
“The government is often ready to embrace new ways of doing things and the one thing about government is that they do have scale,” said McVeigh of Vodafone. “That means that when you do complex things for them you get the benefit back because you can deploy it across the board.”
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