Victoria joins federal AWS procurement agreement

The Victorian Government is joining the Australian whole-of-government agreement with Amazon Web Services to simplify and expedite procurement of AWS cloud services.

The agreement will now underpin the AWS State Purchase Contract with the state government, which first took effect in November 2021.

Joining the federal agreement will grant Victorian agencies streamlined access to over 240 AWS cloud services, including AI, security and quantum technologies. A total of 164 of these services have been assessed as suitable for handling sensitive data at the PROTECTED classification level under the Infosec Registered Assessors Program.

AWS infrastructure is already used for critical Victorian Government systems such as VicTraffic, the Coroners Court of Victoria and the Victorian Register of Land administered by Secure Electronic Registries Victoria.

The enhanced collaboration builds on AWS’s investments in Victoria designed to support the state’s digital transformation, including the launch in 2023 of a second Australian Infrastructure Region in Melbourne to complement the existing region in Sydney.

This year, AWS has committed to investing $20 billion to expand its infrastructure in Australia. To support the expanded infrastructure, Amazon is investing in three new solar farms in Victoria and Queensland with a combined capacity of more than 170 MW. Amazon says it already invests in eight solar and wind projects across Victoria, Queensland and Victoria.

AWS has meanwhile upskilled public sector staff within the Victorian Government in the ethical use and application of AI, and has worked with Swinburne University of Technology to support the Women in STEM Diploma of Applied Technologies in Cloud Technologies.

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