Published on the 02/06/2015 | Written by Beverley Head

The NSW State Government has inked a A$215 million deal with Infosys and Unisys to take over ICT services in a deal it says will save A$20 million a year…

The NSW State Government has signed a three year deal with Infosys and Unisys to take over running its shared services operation, including ICT. The three year contract, with a three year option, is worth A$215-million over the full six years.

The State Government first signed a memorandum of understanding with Infosys and Unisys last December. That MOU detailed the Government’s plans to offload HR, ICT, finance and other shared services previously provided by the Government’s ServiceFirst to the two companies.

According to NSW Minister for Finance and Services, Dominic Perrottet (pictured), the ServiceFirst approach which is being replaced is; “inefficient, expensive, based on outdated technology and designed for a nine-to-five world which no longer exists.”

In terms of the impact to local jobs, a spokesperson from the Department of Finance, Services and Innovation said that the ultimate number of people involved in the programme would be determined by the two technology companies.

“We are buying business outcomes from the market. The vendors will determine the best way to deliver those services. Seventy percent of jobs under the new contracts will stay in NSW. At contract execution there are approximately 90 offshore jobs.”

The transition to the new model is slated for completion by December.

Under the new arrangement, which calls for 24×7 support for the NSW Public Service, while 90 roles will be offshored, a specialist delivery centre will also be established in Western Sydney.

Key to the savings promised will be the consolidation of multiple on-premise ERP systems into a single cloud based system. Agencies will be charged according to their IT usage patterns instead of being slugged with an annual fixed cost.

The initiative will also support a BYOD programme for NSW Government employees.

“Public servants will be the beneficiaries of this announcement as they will now have access to the technology tools of today to enable them to work smarter,” according to the minister. “We can focus on our transformation agenda while leaving back office processes to the experts.”