Talking Points:
• govCMS is a new content management and website hosting service for Australian government agencies
• It allows agencies to quickly create new, high quality, affordable websites that are designed for the user
• govCMS is compliant with Australian Government Standards – including security accreditation and WCAG AA compliance
• govCMS is built on Drupal Open Source Software and is hosted in the Public Cloud
• govCMS is a Software as a Service offering which removes the burden for agencies having to own and manage software or infrastructure, so they can focus more on their core business
• govCMS is due to officially open via a soft launch on Friday, 6 March which will be marked by the release of the govCMS website at govCMS.gov.au

Given the group’s interest in contract management this is a good forum to share some insight into the innovation behind the govCMS contractual arrangements.
Deed of Standing Offer for govCMS was entered into in September 2014 between the Commonwealth of Australia (Finance) and Acquia Inc
The contract structure – Deed Terms and Conditions demonstrate innovation through:

Simple Deed operation

Request for Quote
Quote
(once agreed) issue a Work Order
Each Work Order stands alone as a contract
Work Orders can be for Software-as-Service Hosting, Platform-as-a Service hosting and/or professional services including web site builds, migration and custom module development.

Intellectual Property Rights

Background IP and Foreground IP
Background IP exists already, parties grant “a royalty free, revocable, world-wide, non-exclusive” right to use
Foreground IP is created during the contract and rests with the Commonwealth
A key principle being that the Commonwealth (or any agency) would not be charged again for Foreground IP already created
Drupal GPL 2.0 license (pure Open Source based) used for any derivative distributed

Privacy Act principles apply to Acquia, and to their listed Key Service Partners
Recognises that many Cloud services are built from multiple vendor offerings combined

Remedies/Liabilities/Indemnities

Finance accepted relaxed measures in these areas, closer to the “all care, no responsibility” starting point which Cloud service providers offer on their “click-thru” terms and conditions
Risk mitigations included short-ish length of Deed, minimal upfront cost, low-ish overall expected cost and implementation of offline backups of all web sites hosted to a 3rd party location.

Termination for Convenience of the Commonwealth

Following long negotiations, it transpired that American auditors won’t allow future revenue to be recognised if such a clause exists
Acquia eventually accepted Termination for Convenience, with the addition of a clause that if the Commonwealth exercised this, we would have no right of refund of any monies paid in advance for hosting subscriptions.

Talking Points:
Statement of Services
Acquia’s Product and Services slots in
Acquia’s Service Level Agreement slots in
Commonwealth accepts the Vendor’s Product and Services descriptions and SLAs, however over-rides a few minor points of importance to us. This method enables acceptance of the internet industry best practice with SLAs, and the low cost it brings. Avoid inserting unnecessary SLA items, as any change will undoubtedly incur an extra cost.
Fees – rate card
A full rate card of all the service offerings, is in a table with Acquia SKU codes for ease of ordering.
For Cloud Hosting, 12 months in advance payments agreed to obtain best price from Acquia hosting provider Amazon Web Services.
Professional Services paid on successful milestone completion.
Work Order
No fees are payable until Work Orders are agreed and signed by both parties.
Each Work Order is a contract in its own right, which inherits the Deed terms and conditions.

Best Practice
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines Version 2.0 is internationally recognised as the standard for web accessibility
Legislation
Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (DDA) - covers services, including the provision of information and online services through the web
Government Policy
Web Accessibility National Transition Strategy (NTS) – requires WCAG 2.0 AA conformance
Value for Money
Incorporating WCAG 2.0 into procurement processes reduces the need to retrofit goods to meet mandatory web accessibility requirements.

Web Accessibility is not just about the disability community (1 in 5 Australians), it effects everyone (people with mobile devices, temporary impairments, environmental distractions, old equipment). It just makes sense.