OneMeridian Won the $1.3b SOE

Is this good news or bad news that my company didn't win the contract? Maybe it time to take out my old namecard holder & start calling my old colleagues in EDS.

The $1.3billion contract which will see standard computer systems and networking installed on desks of about 60,000 public sector workers in Singapore has been awarded to oneMeridian consortium.

The other key members in the consortium, led by EDS International, include Alcatel-Lucent, Avanade, Cisco Systems, Frontline, Microsoft, Singapore Computer Systems and SingTel.

oneMeridian beat three other consortia: NCS-IBM, Hewlet-Packard-ST Electronics and NEC Solutions Asia-Pacific-CSC Computer Sciences. The much-anticipated project is the biggest-ever Government IT contract.

Singapore is also the first government in the world to introduce a SOE in the public sector. The first site will go live mid-next year. All government ministries and agencies will use the standard operating environment (SOE) system by 2010 except for the Ministry of Defence, Defence Science and Technology Agency schools and tertiary institutions.

Among the SOE benefits are streamlined Government IT purchasing and improved productivity. Currently, the different agencies buy their own computers and services like helpdesk and maintenance. With the SOE, all this will be grouped into one contract allowing the Government to enjoy bulk discount, shaving off 30 per cent of the public sector spend on IT.