NSW outsources mammoth contract to Unisys, Infosys

Unisys and Infosys will take over IT service delivery to various New South Wales government agencies as the state shifts to an as-a-service IT model.

The two companies have signed contracts that will see them provide IT services for clients of ServiceFirst, the shared services provider serving various agencies for the Office of Finance and Services.

A six-year contract with Unisys will see the company take over IT provision from ServiceFirst, including mobile device, laptop and desktop support, central computing infrastructure support including server, storage, networking and data centres. A centralised service desk will be located in Sydney and Unisys will also provide desk-side support and application services.

Meanwhile, Infosys will manage payroll, HR and financial services for the government’s foundation agencies and associated SAP support. It will also subcontract global SAP integrator Epi-Use, which has its Australian base in North Sydney.

A new specialist delivery centre in Parramatta will allow Infosys to provide application management and business process transactional services to NSW government and other public and private sector clients.

The state government confirmed to CRN's sister title, iTnews, that an initial 90 jobs will be located offshore - in Bangalore for Unisys, and Jaipur and Hyderabad for Infosys. Around 70 percent of jobs will remain onshore after the state government opted against offshoring the entirety of ServiceFirst's former functions.

Round the clock support

The government laid out its intention to outsource IT services last year, with the list of providers narrowed to Infosys and Unisys in December.

While ServiceFirst had done a “terrific job, minister for finance, services and property", Dominic Perrottet criticised the previous arrangement.

Said the previous model was "inefficient, expensive, based on outdated technology and designed for a 9 to 5 world which no longer exists. This is causing our staff frustration and costing taxpayers money,” he said.

The contracts will see a shift to an “as-a-service” model where agencies will be charged for what they use, instead of annual billing. Agencies will have an “extensive catalogue of subscription-based services” using Unisys VantagePoint.

Multiple on-premise ERP solutions will be consolidated into a single cloud based platform. A hybrid delivery model will see services delivered from on-shore and off-shore locations and a new “specialist delivery centre” established in Western Sydney.

Employees will be supported to use their own mobile and desktop devices in the work environment and to remotely access their desktops. Transition to the new model will be completed by December 2015

ServiceFirst currently supports the Department of Finance, Services & Innovation (DFS&I), Department of Premier and Cabinet (DPC), Department of Planning and Environment (DP&E), The Treasury (Treasury), Service NSW (SNSW) and the Public Service Commission (PSC).

Unisys will first take over ServiceFirst’s existing environment and that of client agencies. The next phase will see Unisys transition client agencies to a consumption-based model running on Unisys-owned systems in the new GovDC platform.