QR National goes to tender ahead of public float

Coal and freight business QR National is moving from hosted internet functions to managed services following its separation from Queensland Rail.

The tender comes ahead of its public offering planned for the fourth quarter of 2010 subject to market conditions. An ABC report claimed the share offer is expected to raise more than $5 billion for the Queensland Government. According to department documents, it is expected be among the largest companies listed on the ASX.

"Over the past five years, QR National's coal and freight businesses have grown significantly, both organically and through acquisition, with freight tonnages increasing by 41 per cent," the documents read.

The tender follows a similar document filed by Queensland Rail for an interim solution for hosting the internet site following its separation into two companies, QR National and Queensland Rail, on 1 July 2010.

“Moving forward it is necessary for Queensland Rail to seek a permanent solution and enter into its own contractual arrangements with a service provider," tender documents from Queensland Rail read.

According to the operator for Queensland Rail, managed services will provide a secure Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 production environment that will be accessible to public users as well as pre-production environments for technical staff and content managers.

It also plans to upgrade to SharePoint 2010 in the future.

The managed services offering will support up to 350,000 visits per month, approximately 70 per cent of these being new website visitors.

A Microsoft gold certified partner who can prove compliance with recognised IT process and security standards/certifications will be selected following the tender.

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