The Ministry of Social Development, one of New Zealand’s largest government departments — and the seventh largest user of ICT in the country — is planning to appoint a panel of two or three alternative suppliers to deliver IT infrastructure support services.

The principal work involves support for part of MSD’s Hewlett-Packard infrastructure and the department's Sun infrastructure.

However, the contract could have implications for IT suppliers and the broader government sector.

"MSD is considering recommending to the Syndicated Contracts Review Board that this be a syndicated procurement that other government agencies may have the option of joining. However, this is subject to further consideration by MSD and then obtaining approval from the Syndicated Contracts Review Board," a notice released last week says.

The department's IT group manages solution delivery from strategy and design to management and ongoing support of IT systems.

"MSD is an IT dependent organisation and there is currently a significant range and number of technology-related projects and activities being undertaken. It has an extensive communications, networking and computing infrastructure in place that enables the delivery of critical business systems and applications to all regions and offices," the notice says.