Oracle takes plunge into SmartBuy
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The SmartBuy program has finally convinced Oracle Corp., the second-largest federal software vendor, to play ball.
The SmartBuy program has finally convinced Oracle Corp., the second-largest federal software vendor, to play ball.
Today the Defense Department announced it has reworked its enterprise software license with Oracle to go governmentwide, and administration officials said the Office of Management and Budget is requiring agencies to use the license for acquiring Oracle database products.
"This is the largest agreement we've done so far," said Karen Evans, OMB's administrator for IT and e-government. "If an agency is buying a Oracle database product, they will need to use this agreement. For other Oracle products, agencies may use the vehicle."
Oracle annually sells more than $200 million worth of products and services to the government, according to Federal Sources Inc. of McLean, Va.
Agencies can expect a pretty good deal, according to Rex Bolton, DOD's SmartBuy representative.
Oracle discounted its price on the General Services Administration's Federal Supply Service schedule by as much as 84 percent for the database product and as much as 16 percent for support and maintenance services. Agencies also can get up to 45 percent off other Oracle products, such as enterprise resource planning and customer relationship management applications.
The agreement also includes Oracle resellers such as DLT Solutions Inc. of Herndon, Va., Mythics Inc. of Virginia Beach, Va., and Northrop Grumman Corp.
The deal has been in the works for more than a year. GSA announced in January that an Oracle agreement was imminent, but it took nearly three months to finalize [see GCN coverage].
"For the first time, we are asking agencies to look at how we are buying things and buy them in a more strategic manner," said David Safavian, administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy. "We are seeing dramatic price reductions in this Oracle deal because we approached it in a strategic manner. We will be working on other SmartBuy purchases going forward."
GSA in January also announced potential deals with IBM Corp. and for antivirus software. In all, the SmartBuy program has six agreements in place.
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