Australian Defence’s ICT to be serviced by Unisys

The agreement was signed today between Martin Bowles, deputy secretary Defence Support and Tony Henshaw, vice president global outsourcing and infrastructure services, Unisys Asia Pacific. It follows complex and detailed negotiations between Defence and Unisys.

Defence’s regional ICT operations provide day-to-day management, administration and support to over 100,000 desktop computers at 460 Defence bases and sites throughout regional Australia.

Bowles said Defence would maintain control of its computer networks while Unisys would manage the day-to-day operations under strict policy and performance standards oversighted by Defence. These include strict security standards and procedures.

“The transition of Defence’s regional ICT operations to Unisys is expected to take about 18 months. Throughout this process, Defence will ensure that all personnel currently responsible for the functions transferring across to Unisys will have access to retraining, redeployment or redundancy entitlements,” Bowles said.

Meanwhile, Unisys has continued to emphasise its intention to employ a significant number of the Defence staff currently involved in regional ICT service delivery, he said.