Vocus, Australia’s specialist fibre and network solutions provider, has been awarded a three-year contract by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), to provide secure national data and internet services.

The contract will see Vocus provide up to 230 services across 80 ATO sites, on its fully separated secure network. The types of services include IP WAN, internet and data centre connectivity for all existing and future ATO sites.

Initially covering a three-year term, the contract has three two-year extension options providing a potential total contract period of nine years.

Vocus will provide the majority of the ATO‘s connectivity services through its own national high-capacity fibre network, which stretches across more than 30,000 kilometres, connecting all Australian capital cities with regional centres and into Asia.

Vocus Group CEO, Kevin Russell, said winning the ATO contract was a clear sign of Vocus’ growing recognition as a national provider of secure network infrastructure and solutions.

“We’re very proud of the strong record we have in delivering secure, reliable and high performing services for the Federal Government,” he said.

“Winning this contract, which provides the foundational layer of the ATO’s national network infrastructure, shows the trust and confidence large government agencies have in our network and our capability to deliver brilliant solutions made simple,” he said.

“Importantly, it is also our culture and the way we work that differentiates us for customers. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this tender was primarily conducted virtually. Our team demonstrated that we will go the extra mile to make things as simple, easy and transparent as possible. These are key reasons why we’ve built significant levels of trust with our government customers,” Mr Russell said.

Vocus’ contract with the ATO is one of a number of contracts to be awarded by the ATO following the unbundling of its Managed Network Services contract. This has enabled greater competition and specialists such as Vocus to competitively bid for specific ICT services contracts.

It is also one of the last major contracts to be awarded under the Digital Transformation Agency’s (DTA) Telecommunications Services Panel (TSP), of which Vocus was a member, under its Nextgen Networks brand.

Over the life of the TSP and its various predecessors, Vocus successfully tendered and delivered a significant number of contracts for Federal Government agencies including the Bureau of Meteorology, the Department of Finance’s Government Network Services Branch, Department of Treasury, Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC), Department of Defence, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Department of Education, Skills and Employment.

The TSP has been replaced by DTA’s new Commonwealth Telecommunications Marketplace (TMP), which was announced last week. Vocus was among the first 26 service providers appointed.