Avit Wins ‘Network as a Service’ Tender for Nijkerk Municipality

We are pleased to announce that Avit has won the tender for ‘Network as a Service’ (NaaS) from the municipality of Nijkerk. The contract has an initial term of four years (2024 to 2028), with three two-year renewal options, making the maximum contract duration ten years (2024 to 2034). The operational Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) was launched on July 1, 2024.

Relocation and Modernization of the Nijkerk Municipality 

The Municipality of Nijkerk, with approximately 45,000 inhabitants, has recently relocated. The new location is a modern town hall at Van 't Hoffstraat 24 in Nijkerk, where the Rabobank office used to be. In June, the realization of a completely new ICT network began, which was successfully put into use on August 5th, with the opening of the town hall.

The relocation offered the Municipality of Nijkerk a unique opportunity to modernize and future-proof its ICT infrastructure. Since ICT is not the municipality's core business and qualified ICT personnel are becoming increasingly scarce, the municipality decided to outsource its network as a service instead of building and managing it itself.

The objectives of this tender were ambitious and long-term:

• Modern, future-proof ICT network: A network that meets the expected use of the municipality's ICT infrastructure in the coming four to ten years.
• Professionalization of management and maintenance: By placing increasing dynamics in technology and needs in the hands of a specialized party whose core business it is, under professional commissioning by competent in-house employees.
• Continuity: Continuous access to a high-quality, up-to-date and information-secure network that optimally supports service delivery and protects the data of residents
• Cost control: Network services must be market-conform or more favorable and adapt to developments in the market.

Unique Features of the NaaS Approach 

The choice for NaaS is a strategic move. Unlike traditional IT procurement, where Avit would only be responsible for delivery and possibly implementation, but the municipality would have control over management, NaaS offers a subscription model. This gives the municipality the flexibility to easily adjust the capacity of the network to its needs, without large upfront investments. Moreover, customers with NaaS contracts can benefit from technical innovations during the contract period, ensuring that the network remains up-to-date with the latest developments.

A Smart and Modern Town Hall 

The new Nijkerk town hall is more than just a workplace; it's a smart building. The network that Avit delivers enables various integration possibilities of applications such as streaming (council) meetings, making appointments, reserving rooms, digital presentations, video conferencing, and a guest Wi-Fi network for visitors. This contributes to more efficient service delivery and a better experience for both employees and residents.

Robert van Zanten, Director at Avit Nederland: “Winning this tender is a significant milestone for Avit. With this victory, we are taking an important step towards a future-proof and efficient ICT infrastructure for the municipality of Nijkerk, and we look forward to making this project a success.”

Marcel Spanjersberg, Advisor and Coordinator of Computerization at the municipality of Nijkerk: “With Avit and their Network as a Service solution, we are taking a significant step towards a modern, future-proof and secure ICT infrastructure.”

Mark Nessen, Policy Advisor for Computerization at the municipality of Nijkerk: “This collaboration enables us to improve our digital services and flexibly respond to future needs.”