In 2001, the Maltese Government issued an international request for proposals for the establishment of a strategic partnership for a period of not less than seven years for the design, development, implementation and potential operation of e-Government services.
Following an extensive evaluation process, the Government, following the recommendation of the adjudication team, in January 2002 chose the Compaq-led consortium to as the preferred consortium for the strategic partnership.
Negotiations commenced in March 2002 with the Compaq consortium, which became the HP (Hewlett Packard) consortium in May 2002 following the Compaq merger with HP, and were concluded in October.
“Following consideration of the recommendations of the negotiation team, the Government has now concluded that it will not continue with it efforts to establish a strategic partnership with the HP-led consortium or with any other third party”, the Government statement said.
It explained that conclusion reached by Government was not a reflection on the role played by the HP-led consortium throughout the negotiation process, with the consortium showing “a genuine commitment to participate in this partnership and to bring value to Malta through its participation”.
“To the contrary, the rationale underpinning this decision was based primarily on the rapid technological advancements in the field of e-Government and of the positioning of the ICT industry itself.”
“Instead of entering into one single holistic partnership, the Government decided that it is much more advantageous to adopt a vertical approach and enter into ‘best of breed’ partnerships and ‘twinning alliances’ with major international firms on specific e-Government related initiatives.”
“These partnerships will be explored and entered into with the primary aims to gain access to cutting-edge e-Government technology, proliferate the information society in Malta and overall to strengthen the indigenous ICT industry”, the statement added.
The Maltese Government, it said, also believes that the recently adopted outsourcing policy in the e-Government programme was a great success and the local ICT (Information and Communication Technology) private sector proved that it can meet even the most stringent ICT development quality standards.
In this respect, Government will be accelerating its outsourcing efforts with a view to engender further the local private sector in sync with the objective of establishing Malta as a regional ICT centre of excellence, the statement said.
“Government will be striving to attain vertical partnerships of excellence with major multinational ICT players such as HP itself whilst ensuring that the local ICT industry is an active player in the path towards the attainment of a first class e-Government model in Malta”, it concluded.
Quelle: di-ve.com
