Request for Information - Telecommunications Expense Management Solution

⁠⁠⁠Overview

The Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) invites submissions in relation to TMR's intention to procure a Telecommunications Expense Management Solution. This Request for Information (RFI) is intended to help TMR understand the solutions available in the market for managing telecommunications expenditure.

About

TMR currently manages telecommunications expenditure across a range of services including fixed, mobile, and data services. These processes include invoice validation, cost allocation, reporting, and management of telecommunications service inventories.

Existing capabilities are supported through a combination of tools and manual processes, including a telecommunications expense management platform and ServiceNow for service and asset-related tracking activities. TMR receives telecommunications invoices from multiple suppliers, which are provided in varying formats and levels of structure.

Purpose

TMR is seeking to better understand the solutions available in the market that can consolidate telecommunications expenditure data into a single platform and improve visibility, control, management, analysis, and reporting through a consistent process. TMR is particularly interested in approaches that enhance billing validation, support individual service level cost recovery, and improve alignment between service, billing, and inventory data.

While the purpose of this RFI is to assess telecommunications expense management (TEMS) capabilities, broader ICT expenditure management capabilities are considered desirable but are not weighted equally to telecommunications capabilities and should not be presented without stated TEMS capability. TMR operates in a constrained environment where enterprise financial systems (for example SAP and corporate expense management platforms) are managed by other business areas, and the ability to integrate with these systems is highly desirable.

Scope

Suppliers are requested to provide information on solutions that support telecommunications expense management, including:

• Management of one-off and recurrent telecommunications expenditure across fixed, mobile, and data services
• Ingestion and normalisation of invoice data from multiple telecommunications carriers, including both Tier 1 and non-Tier 1 providers, and across varying formats
• Support for internal cost recovery billing, enabling TMR to add and allocate internally determined charges (such as support service fees) to individual services alongside vendor-supplied billing data
• Invoice validation, billing assurance, and identification of anomalies and discrepancies
• Provision of a single, consolidated platform and consistent process for analysis, reconciliation, and reporting
• Allocation of telecommunications costs to business units via cost centres and WBS elements, including support for cost recovery processes
• Reporting and analytics to support financial, operational, and audit requirements
• Role-based access control with configurable, granular permissions that can be assigned based on user responsibilities, supporting access levels ranging from individual service owners (read-only) through to local administrators, finance teams, reporting users, telecommunications providers, and platform administrators, with appropriate restrictions on data visibility and system functions
• Management and visibility of telecommunications hardware inventories, including mobile devices, desk and conference handsets, with the ability to align device, service, and billing data

Integration with mobile device management platforms is desirable.

Extended ICT Expenditure Capabilities

In addition to the core telecommunications scope, TMR is interested in understanding whether proposed solutions can be extended to support broader ICT-related expenditure, including:

• Software licensing and subscription costs
• ICT service-related costs
• ICT hardware-related expenditure

These extended capabilities are not mandatory requirements. TMR is not seeking to replace enterprise financial or asset management platforms, and solutions should operate independently of these systems or require only minimal integration.

Enquiries

• Contact Name: Michael Hintz
• Position: Principal Sourcing Specialist
• Primary phone: 07 30661073
• Mobile phone: 0431 515544
• Email: michael.p.hintz@tmr.qld.gov.au