Department of Defence renews IT support service contract with Unisys
The Department of Defence has extended its IT support services contract, valued at approximately AU$74 million, with Unisys for another two years to October 2018.
Under the contract, Unisys will provide IT support for 100,000 end users at approximately 450 Defence locations across the country. The contract will also include providing support for joint service and international military exercises such as Talisman Sabre, as well as emergency disaster responses including floods and bushfires.
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The contract extension is part of Defence's ongoing IT transformation program, which it said requires a "focused and sustained effort". The department added that a decision on the long-term delivery of IT services through a distributed computing bundle will be made over the next 24 months.
Unisys initially won its regional IT services agreement with Defence back in 2008 for an initial five years. Back then the contract, which was valued at AU$240 million, saw Unisys help standardise Defence's IT support processes nationally. According to Unisys, it also helped Defence introduce a flexible workforce model to enable price predictability, control over where workforce efforts are focused, and transparent report about how the workforce has been used.
Unisys APAC public sector lead Lysandra Schmutter said the contract renewal is a testament to the company's service so far to the department.
"Our focus is on the critical role of base operations in Defence and ensuring they are executing efficiently and effectively at all times," she said.
Mid-last year, Unisys, together with Infosys, was handed a six-year cloud deployment contract by the New South Wales government.
Under the contract, Unisys is expected to provide end-to-end outsourced IT services including mobile device, laptop, and desktop support; central computing infrastructure support including server, storage, networking, and datacentres; IT service management including a centralised service desk in Western Sydney; desk-side support; and application services.
The Board of Airline Representatives, an industry representative organisation for more than 25 airlines, renewed its contract with Unisys for another four years last March.
Under the contract, Unisys will continue to provide a baggage reconciliation system at seven international airports across the country, including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Cairns, Perth, Adelaide, and the Gold Coast. This includes managing the network infrastructure and security architecture, and providing training and onsite support, application management, and help desk support.