Department of Defence officials will negotiate with Unisys on outsourcing regional IT service delivery for 460 Defence bases and sites.
Defence said Unisys presented the best value for money response from six vendors who responded to its request for tender issued in July 2005.
Other vendors to pitch were Australian Base Services, Commander, EDS, Kaz Technology Services, and in-house group Information Communication Excellence.
Defence said it expected to complete negotiations with Unisys for the five year contract by August. Should the negotiations be successful, implementation could begin late this year, according to Defence.
Defence is market-testing its regional ICT service delivery requirements to see if external contractors can deliver them more efficiently and at lower cost than its own staff.
The tender affects about 640 positions -- 470 from the public service and 170 from the Australian Defence Force.
There are casualties of outsourcing and It's always the customers on the ground. Defence IT outsourcing is nothing other than a
hope to deliver a better quality service at a lower price. Observers will note it just doesn't happen and the person on the ground
suffers the most. In house IT staff work for Defence as it offers job security but most have a passion for Defence. That passion
negates the abuse given by customers to all IT staff (regardless of your employer) and drives them to work diligently and often
after hours without pay. An outsourcer is only concerned with profit motive which is inherited by the staff. The end result is a
short service and more complaints. Ironically, in Australia at least, the entity where complaints are reported is also outsourced,
guess how many complaints go upstairs.