sourcingfocus.com News

UK: Buying Solutions awards IT outsourcing contract to Bull IT

Buying Solutions, the public sector procurement agency awarded Bull IT a framework agreement for IT Managed Services. Under the agreement, Bull’s IT managed services will be made available to all UK public sector organisations which are seeking to contract a supplier who can design, implement and manage end-to-end, cost effective Information and Communication Technology (ICT) services. The framework agreement provides a simplified procurement process that meets the European legislative requirements of public sector organisations with nationally negotiated pricing and pre-agreed terms and conditions. This removes the need for lengthy tendering processes or complex procurement arrangements meaning efficiencies can be achieved in much shorter timescales. This announcement follows Bull being awarded a framework agreement for IT Infrastructure Products and Services by Buying Solutions in April this year. With framework agreements for IT Infrastructure Products and Services, and now, IT Managed Services, the UK public sector will be able to meet Government budgetary and environmental targets. These include saving £300m per year on ICT projects and reducing power and cooling requirements by 75%.
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The Met awards £10m contract extension to Logica

The Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) and Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) have granted Logica a £10m three-year extension on its pay and pensions outsourcing contract. The extension covers the period 2013-2016 and renews the existing contract between the two organisations, signed in 2005. Logica already provides a fully-integrated, managed payroll and pensions’ administration service for the 58,000 police officers and staff of MPS. This extension will also see Logica offer the opportunity for MPS to benefit from introduction of organisation-wide electronic payslips, overtime and expenses which it has not had to date. The new contract maintains the focus on providing quality services at good value for money. The pensions’ administration service will continue to be managed through Logica’s partner Xafinity Paymaster. Logica will also provide an even more resilient and flexible solution providing additional benefits to MPS employees through greater use of self-service IT systems. Additionally, Logica’s technology and payroll solutions, which were developed specifically for the public sector, have been tailored to meet the specific needs of Logica’s Police User Group.
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Capgemini acquires stake in Brazilian IT services player

IT and outsourcing consultancy Capgemini has acquired a 55% stake in Brazilian IT services company CPM Braxis. Capgemini has an option to buy the remainder of CPM Braxis’ capital (45%), and the existing shareholders have an option to sell their remaining shares. These options can only be exercised between the 3rd and the 5th anniversary of the closing date (on the basis of an estimated price based on fair market value at the time of the exercise of these options). The deal will enable Capgemini to considerably boost its presence in Brazil an IT services market amongst those with the highest potential. The agreement will see the group widen its client base and contributes to Capgemini’s ability to better support its international clients in their developments in Brazil. CPM Braxis’ client portfolio includes major Brazilian and international companies, particularly in the financial sector. The company expects to record 2010 revenues of around BRL 1bn (€450m). CPM Braxis will also benefit from Capgemini’s assets –its global reach, methodologies and network of alliances - to serve its own clients, both in Brazil and around the world.
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CBI awards 5 year contract to Wipro

Central Bank of India (CBI), one of the largest public sector banks in India has awarded IT solutions supplier Wipro a five-year total outsourcing agreement to provide state-of-the-art, technology-driven, core banking solution for seven sponsored Regional Rural banks (RRBs). The engagement will allow the Central Bank of India to achieve its objective of financial inclusion and bring low cost and efficient banking services to the rural masses. The Centralised Core Banking Project is expected to facilitate efficient internal operations for the seven Regional Rural Banks. It is also expected to provide the competitive edge by enabling regional rural banks offer innovative products and services at optimum costs. The Core Banking project would integrate 2,000 sites which include branches, extension counters, satellite offices, regional offices, head offices and back offices in a phased manner. The solution would also offer alternate delivery channels like Internet banking and mobile (including SMS Alerts) banking. Wipro will also setup a 24-hour centralised Helpdesk facility for the project covering applications, Data Centre, networks, security and end user systems. The software has been provided by Infosys using “Finacle” along with other standard products such as ALM, Govt. Business, Internet, ATM, EMS, AML etc. With this, RRBs of Central Bank of India will be in compliance with statutory & Regulatory requirements including MIS. The contract is the outcome of a competitive bidding process which attracted several global and Indian IT majors. Earlier, last week, Wipro signed a 7 year Total Outsourcing contract with 5 RRBs sponsored by UCO Bank, a leading Public Sector Bank, for implementing a Core Banking Solution (CBS) across 803 branches of the sponsored RRBs. The contract with Central Bank is the second in the series of wins for Wipro, related to driving financial inclusion through RRBs.
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Alcatel-Lucent acquires OpenPlug

Alcatel-Lucent has acquired OpenPlug, a mobile software and applications development tools vendor. The OpenPlug toolset will be incorporated into Alcatel-Lucent’s Developer Platform and external linkOpen API Service, thus broadening the functionality available to service providers, enterprises and developers for the exposure of network assets and the rapid introduction of new services across mobile and Web domains. The move advances Alcatel-Lucent’s Application Enablement strategy, which is focused on combining the trusted and secure network capabilities of service providers with the speed and innovation of the Web to provide a richer end-user experience. The acquisition will allow Alcatel to offer OpenPlug’s functionality to service providers, enterprises and developers so they can create and deploy applications across multiple mobile devices and within service provider app stores. This is the second acquisition Alcatel-Lucent has made over the past three months to expand and enhance the application ecosystem. In June, the company acquired ProgrammableWeb, the technology industry’s go-to source of API-related content.
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