Defence techies jump at Unisys Canberra jobs

The outsourcing and services vendor announced yesterday that it was looking to fill as many as 100 new IT positions in Canberra as part of its support services contract with the Australian Department of Defence.

Unisys finalised contractual arrangements only a fortnight ago, even though the company had been earmarked for the job more than a year ago, after a lengthy tender process dating back to 2005.

The Defence Department's ICT support services contract will see the outsourcer providing network security, infrastructure, server and desktop support as part of a deal worth around AU$240 million.

"Unisys will be co-locating critical service delivery management and specialist technical support groups in Canberra with their Defence counterparts," said Dominic Welfare, Unisys' senior HR business partner in a statement.

A Unisys spokesperson told ZDNet.com.au that the recruitment drive signified the end of negotiations between the company and the Department, and the official commencement of proceedings as part of the agreement -- after an initial 18-month transition period.

"We're in the transitional period at the moment, and the recruitment drive is part of that gradual rollout process," said the spokesperson, who added that the company had alerted existing Defence personnel to the available positions ahead of yesterday's announcement.

"We've already briefed Defence staff to gauge their interest on the positions available, at the moment it looks like about 60 percent of those staff have shown interest in coming across," the spokesperson noted.