Rimini Street wins French public sector support deal

Rimini Street has secured a framework agreement with CANUT in France, giving eligible public sector organisations access to its third-party software support services.

The agreement covers Oracle, SAP, VMware and IBM environments for entities subject to the French Public Procurement Code.

Under the arrangement, public bodies and eligible non-profit organisations can buy support services without running separate tender processes for each contract. For organisations with large installed software estates seeking alternatives to original vendor support, this changes the procurement route.

Rimini Street said the framework is intended to help organisations manage maintenance spending, keep existing systems in use for longer and avoid supplier-driven upgrade timetables. It added that customers can retain their perpetual licences while deciding how their current systems should develop.

Public sector focus

The move comes as French public sector organisations review their technology choices amid a wider policy debate over digital sovereignty and dependence on large international vendors. Maintenance costs, ageing systems and pressure to modernise core infrastructure have become recurring issues across government IT estates.

CANUT is a public purchasing centre specialising in digital technology and telecommunications. It develops framework agreements for public institutions and private non-profit entities, including local authorities, social housing providers and other public bodies.

Organisations using the framework can access support features including custom code fixes, tax, legal and regulatory updates for compliance, and round-the-clock support, according to Rimini Street. The service also includes a named Primary Support Engineer backed by a wider technical team.

Cost reduction is a key part of the offer. Rimini Street said customers can make immediate savings on annual support fees and redirect some of that spending to other technology priorities.

"For public organisations, the essential criteria are value creation, regulatory compliance and the ability to react quickly when needed, while retaining genuine freedom of decision," said Hervé Grandjean, IT Buyer, CANUT. "The offering proposed by Rimini Street meets these expectations. Thanks to this pre-qualified solution available through CANUT, public and private non-profit organisations now have a concrete alternative to traditional support models, which are often characterised by dependence on a single vendor and a lack of flexibility. The potential savings can be immediately reinvested in high-value modernisation and innovation projects."

French access

The framework applies in France, but it also points to a broader issue facing public sector technology teams elsewhere, including in Australia. Government agencies are trying to balance rising software and infrastructure costs with cybersecurity demands and the need to update critical systems without disrupting services.

Third-party support has often been positioned as a way to extend the life of legacy applications while freeing budgets for replacement or modernisation work. For public agencies, the procurement route can be as important as the technical choice because long tender cycles can delay spending decisions and lock organisations into existing arrangements.

France has been a market for Rimini Street since 2017, according to the company. It has a local entity, a Paris office and dedicated teams in the country. The CANUT framework gives it a formal route to a wider group of eligible public sector buyers.

Martyn Hoogakker, GVP and Theatre General Manager, EMEA, at Rimini Street, linked the agreement to policy concerns about technology control in the public sector.

"France's stated intention to strengthen its digital sovereignty represents a major development for the entire European public sector," said Hoogakker. "Public institutions must be able to define their technology path according to their needs and priorities, rather than according to commercial timetables imposed by vendors. The framework established with CANUT provides direct and compliant access to a support model enabling CIOs to regain control of their roadmap, optimise their spending and reallocate their resources to strategic initiatives. Present in France since 2017 with a local entity, an office in Paris and dedicated teams, Rimini Street is committed to a long-term approach serving French public-sector organisations."