The Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) recently announced that Telstra will deliver significant cost savings to Local Government over the next three years through group purchasing of telecommunications services.
MAV President Councillor Bill McArthur said that following a public tender process, MAV Procurement and Telstra signed a contract on behalf of 62 Victorian councils in December. The contract will provide fixed voice, mobile telephony and data services, as well as access to Telstra 1 touch video conferencing.
Councillor McArthur said that cost savings through this collaborative procurement contract could be as much as 20 per cent for some participating councils.
“Telstra is also offering a range of services to councils’ staff and family members,” he said. “Group purchasing particularly benefits smaller councils that cannot usually access the pricing benefits of larger municipalities. It is a win–win outcome for councils and their communities.
“By combining its purchasing power, Local Government is creating economies of scale to find millions of dollars of cost savings across a broad range of service areas. This is enabling individual municipalities to redirect these savings towards other local community projects and initiatives.”
Telstra Countrywide Executive Director for Victoria and Tasmania Grant Wiltshire said the agreement will deliver premium quality telecommunication services to councils across Victoria.
“The new procurement model enables councils to leverage the investment made by Telstra in our leading products and services, such as the Next G and Next IP networks, to drive greater productivity and efficiency in their local regions,” he said.
The annual telecommunications spend of the 62 municipalities that expressed interest in accessing the Telstra contract is more than $20 million.
Earlier this year the MAV established MAV Procurement, a not for profit entity to support Victorian councils’ efforts to aggregate purchasing of goods and services in an efficient and cost effective manner.
“This is a great example of Local Government working together to reduce administrative costs through group purchasing of goods and services that can also deliver improvements to councils’ service delivery,” Councillor McArthur said.
For further information contact Councillor Bill McArthur on 0437 984 793.
