Service description

The MCSSA is an all-of-government Microsoft volume licensing agreement that includes subscription-based, perpetual and cloud services licensing. This agreement replaces the Microsoft Licensing Framework Agreement (G2018/G2021).

The MCSSA is based on subscriptions to Microsoft Enterprise Online services, with additional entitlements to:

• Microsoft 365 (M365) E5, E5 Security, E3, F3, F5 Security and Compliance
• Copilot for M365
• Power Apps
• Azure Cloud Services (pay-as-you-go and commitment-based options)
• on-premises products
• Unified Support.

Delivery

Eligible agencies access the Microsoft Licensing Framework Agreement through Licensing Solution Partners (LSPs).

Your agency can enrol in the agreement through an LSP of your choice. Your LSP can help model your agency needs. LSPs usually charge a fee for their service, which may vary between LSPs.

Benefits

This agreement leverages the scale of New Zealand’s government agencies as a single customer.

Other benefits include:

• improved discounts due to a dedicated negotiation team including financial analysis, an expert on Microsoft Enterprise Agreement negotiations and external legal assistance
• a simplified agreement process by reducing multiple custom profiles to a limited number of programmatic licences and online services suites, with additional negotiated use rights
• simplified enrolment processes by moving to digital documents and processing
• when renewing your current agreement into the new MCSSA, your agency has access to the negotiated volume discounts
• the establishment of an ongoing Governance structure ensures that the services provided by Microsoft will improve over the duration of the contract.

Using standardised product suites from Microsoft removes the complexity of multiple profiles, making entitlements (licence and right to use) easy to understand and significantly reducing management and compliance costs.

It also allows your agency to focus on the other technology needed to deliver your services.

Roadmap

The Microsoft Cloud, Software and Services Agreement has been renewed by the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) for an additional 3 years.

Lead Agency

Te Tari Taiwhenua Department of Internal Affairs

Status

Operational

Adopting the service

The MCSSA has a defined set of eligible agencies and excludes some state-owned enterprises.

Contact subscriptions@dia.govt.nz to check if your agency is eligible.

The MCSSA is not a common capability agreement, which means your organisation may need to consider a primary procurement to procure goods and services from the MCSSA.

Government Procurement Rules — NZ Government Procurement

Agencies can take advantage of the work done by the lead agency by using the following process.

How to get a contract

1. Contact subscriptions@dia.govt.nz.
2. Sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with DIA as Lead Agency. This MoU sets out each party’s rights and obligations.
3. Contact your preferred LSP. They can help your agency with the enrolment process.

An administration fee of 1.75% of the total spend by agencies will be applicable. This fee is used to manage the contract on behalf of all government agencies.

Lead Agency Agreement summary

DIA entered into an agreement with Microsoft to supply Microsoft Cloud and Software products to eligible government agencies on 1 October 2024. This replaced the previous G2018/G2021 agreements.

The agreement has an initial term of 3 years, with the option to renew for a further 3 years from 2027.

Supplier information

The following Licensing Solution Partners are available to government:

• Cyclone Computer Company Limited
• Datacom Systems New Zealand Limited
• Fujitsu New Zealand Limited
• Insight Enterprises Limited
• NTT Limited
• Spark Digital, a Division Spark Trading New Zealand Limited.