ACT Government's Digital Canberra to refresh private cloud platform

Digital Canberra, the ACT Government directorate responsible for digital technology, data and security systems across the ACT Government, is running a request for information (RFI) on future options for the ACT compute hosting platform. The platform is effectively a private cloud. It runs on VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) software and Dell hardware. The source for this opportunity is a news article published by iTnews on 15 September 2026, not an official tender notice or tender documents. Any procurement details beyond the article are not yet available.

The RFI is driven by approaching hardware warranty expiry. Most of the ACT compute platform reaches warranty expiry between March and September 2027. Only a subset of newer Dell MX760c blade server infrastructure stays supported until July 2029. According to the directorate, running the platform beyond the current hardware lifecycle would increase the risk of hardware failure, reduce vendor supportability, raise operating costs and constrain future upgrades of the VCF virtualisation platform. The VCF platform is a critical whole-of-government shared service. It supports about 1,400 virtual machines across four environments: three data centres and a virtual infrastructure testing capability. These environments underpin many business-facing and citizen-facing digital services.

The ACT Government wants to establish the most appropriate way to maintain the capability these environments provide, and is looking for a pragmatic, cost-effective solution that keeps the platform operable and supportable. The refresh program has a defined budget, but its amount is not disclosed. Digital Canberra is engaging with industry to understand what can realistically be delivered within that budget at current market costs. The effort aligns with the directorate's 2026-27 priority of consolidating the ACT Government's technology footprint onto fewer, scalable whole-of-government platforms.

The source does not state an estimated value, procedure type, response deadline, contract duration, lots, submission portal or bid language. Digital Canberra declined to say which architectural components of the platform will be renewed or refreshed, citing the ongoing RFI. Formal requirements, selection criteria and award criteria will only become available if the RFI is followed by an approach to market, presumably ahead of the 2027 warranty expiries.