[LINK] Australian Whole of Government Computer Tender a Bit Green

[Tom Worthington]

The Department of Finance and Deregulation has issued a Request for
Tender for a "Whole of Government Desktop Hardware (Computing Equipment)
Panel" (RFT FIN10/AGI001, 1-Feb-2010):
<https://www.tenders.gov.au/?event=public.atm.show&ATMUUID=874BBC14-EF78-9D35-566A637B41FBACD7>.

This includes desktop and mobile computing equipment, monitors,
installation and disposal. All agencies will be required to buy through
the panel.

There is a 235 page "Statement of Requirements" available to
tenderers. This not only includes the usual desktop PCs and laptops, but
also Thin Clients, Ultra Mobile PCs, Netbooks, Ruggedised Notebooks and
Mobile Thin Clients.

Tenderers are required to describe environmental aspects of their
Tender, but no minimum requirement is specified for the Electronic
Product Environment Assessment Tool (EPEAT). This contrasts with the
Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts (DEWHA)
Request for Tender for Provision of Desktop, LAN, Helpdesk and Midrange
Services (RFT 0708-705, 7 August 2008), which required at least an EPEAT
silver rating. This was possibly too much to ask of suppliers, but not
asking for at least the minimum Bronze rating may be too little.

Green features required by the new tender include: US ENERGY STAR 4.0, 
BIOS Support for Green and Plug and Play features and Support for 
Wake-on-LAN. There is no specific requirement for recycling or 
environmentally sensitive disposal of surplus hardware.

Support for Linux is mentioned, along with Microsoft Windows XP,
Microsoft Vista and Microsoft Windows 7.

For more:

* On the tender:
<http://www.tomw.net.au/blog/2010/02/australian-whole-of-government-computer.html>.
* EPEAT: <http://www.tomw.net.au/green/materials.shtml#epeat>
* Energy Star: <http://www.tomw.net.au/green/energystar.shtml#esp>


-- 
Tom Worthington FACS HLM, TomW Communications Pty Ltd. t: 0419496150
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia  http://www.tomw.net.au
Adjunct Lecturer, The Australian National University t: 02 61255694
Computer Science http://cs.anu.edu.au/user/3890