The briefing covers the first stage of a program that will eventually replace the nine-year outsourcing contract the ATO has held with US services giant Electronic Data Systems (EDS).
The ATO announced through the Commonwealth tenders website it would meet with interested suppliers to the Managed Network Services component of its plans on Monday December 17.
The Tax Office said its sourcing plans called for market testing of various services between mid-next year and mid-2010. It plans to issue a series of Expressions of Interest (EoIs) and Requests for Tender (RfTs) during that period.
The first EOI, for Managed Network Services, will be released in late January. It will cover areas ranging from voice, mobile and data carriage services, desktop handsets and PBX systems, network switches and security gateways.
Following the EOI, the Tax Office is expected to select a shortlist of suppliers to participate in further briefings and workshops before being invited to respond to a formal RfT.
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