Brisbane, Australia: May 22, 2009: Brisbane based IT research firm, Longhaus, has secured the commercialisation rights to selected Queensland Government technology information, the Minister for Public Works and Information and Communication Technology, Robert Schwarten announced today.  In a first for Australia, the Queensland Government will inform industry of its current and potential technology spending through a range of information products offered by Longhaus. 

At approximately $24 Billion per annum, the Queensland ICT market accounts for almost 25% of Australia's total annual ICT expenditure. Within this market the Queensland Government is the single largest ICT purchaser.
In support of this regional ICT powerhouse, Department of Public Works Director-General and Queensland Government Chief Information Officer Mal Grierson this week signed a 5 year agreement for the commercialisation of data relating to the government's ICT footprint with information regularly collected from across Queensland's budget-funded agencies. Known as the Longhaus Baseline, this new service will bring an endorsed and unprecedented level of insight into both the spending and composition of Queensland Government ICT. 

This is a significant agreement being the first of its kind in Australia, and arguably a world first where a government has formed a commercial relationship to supply detailed information about its own ICT assets. As a coordinated, credible and endorsed information resource, interest is high both in Queensland and across other jurisdictions, in the absence of similarly detailed market insights.

According to Longhaus Managing Director Peter Carr,

"We know from our investigations that the industry holds in high regard the combination of government and independent industry analysis. The Longhaus Baseline will come to represent the epitome of trusted public ICT research and data, and places QGCIO and the Queensland Government at the forefront of ICT industry engagement in Australia."

Based on a recent study Longhaus estimates that the top 100 ICT vendors in Australia spend over $13 million per annum attempting to gather raw intelligence on the government market. By engaging with a commercial partner to make available Queensland government information, the ability for the ICT industry to focus its engagement strategies and internal marketing spend will come as a welcome relief to many companies in this period of economic uncertainty.

"This approach also demonstrates the Bligh Government's commitment to sharing information consistent with the recommendations of the Solomon Review. We are looking forward to working closely with the Queensland Government over the next 5 years, and fully appreciate the responsibility of service that such a commercialisation relationship engenders. Nowhere else in Australia will the ICT industry have such transparent access to data on public sector ICT spending than in the State of Queensland."

The Longhaus ICT Baseline service will also assist Australia's other jurisdictional agencies in making more effective ICT strategy and procurement decisions by providing meaningful and relevant ICT data for communicating with government program managers about lessons learned and vendor experiences.