By Peter Lavelle
Wednesday 17 February 10:45 GMT
Electronics brand Fujitsu have won a £300m contract to supply PCs to the Department of Work and Pensions, beating off competition from the present supplier HP Enterprise Systems (formerly EDS.)
In a 6 year contract for the DWP, Fujitsu will install a thin client IT infrastructure – which doesn’t mean their desktop computers come with weight limits. Instead, thin client PCs run their core functions via an external server.
This potentially saves the cash-strapped DWP millions, and pours £300m into Fujitsu’s coffers. The contract will involve up to 140,000 desktops until 2015.
Yet the contract demonstrates the DWP’s sense of irony. Rumour has it the Department opted against HP Enterprise Systems because of the strike action affecting the IT firm. Last month, 1000 IT engineers contracted at the DWP threw aside their microchip wrenches.
Yet Fujitsu has recently been beset by strikes too – concerning its pension scheme. Members of union Unite agreed to extend their strike action into February last week.
For a government department concerned with employee welfare, this is worth blushing about.
Yet DWP CIO Joe Harley has extolled the benefits of Fujitsu. Speaking to Information Age, he said Fujitsu “provides a number of benefits, including little or no maintenance required to the kit and reductions in power consumption which supports our sustainability agenda.”
Since 2008 the DWP has contracted half its IT services, in an attempt to reduce expenditure. The Department’s full procurement agenda is available here.
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Procurement is not the only agenda being pursued by DWP – Mary Gibson of Nottingham was recently threatened with legal action by the DWP, if she neglected to pay back 1p.
The threat referred to a crisis loan Gibson thought had been repaid. How many services the DWP would have been made to close without the penny is unclear.
Sources
Alexandra Pulin, ‘Fujitsu Wins Department Of Work and Pensions Contract From HP,’ TechEye.net, 16 February 2010.
Andrew Donoghue, ‘DWP Swaps Strike-Hit HP For Strike Hit Fujitsu,’ EWeekEurope.co.uk, 16 February 2010.
Desire Athow, ‘Fujitsu To Roll Out Thin Clients In £300 Million DWP Contract,’ ITPortal.com, 16 February 2010.
John Oates, ‘Fujitsu Grabs Billion Pound HP Contract,’ TheRegister.co.uk, 16 February 2010.
Sunil Kumar, ‘Fujitsu Ties Contract With HP,’ TopNews.co.uk, 16 February 2010.
Wednesday 17 February 10:45 GMT
Electronics brand Fujitsu have won a £300m contract to supply PCs to the Department of Work and Pensions, beating off competition from the present supplier HP Enterprise Systems (formerly EDS.)
In a 6 year contract for the DWP, Fujitsu will install a thin client IT infrastructure – which doesn’t mean their desktop computers come with weight limits. Instead, thin client PCs run their core functions via an external server.
This potentially saves the cash-strapped DWP millions, and pours £300m into Fujitsu’s coffers. The contract will involve up to 140,000 desktops until 2015.
Yet the contract demonstrates the DWP’s sense of irony. Rumour has it the Department opted against HP Enterprise Systems because of the strike action affecting the IT firm. Last month, 1000 IT engineers contracted at the DWP threw aside their microchip wrenches.
Yet Fujitsu has recently been beset by strikes too – concerning its pension scheme. Members of union Unite agreed to extend their strike action into February last week.
For a government department concerned with employee welfare, this is worth blushing about.
Yet DWP CIO Joe Harley has extolled the benefits of Fujitsu. Speaking to Information Age, he said Fujitsu “provides a number of benefits, including little or no maintenance required to the kit and reductions in power consumption which supports our sustainability agenda.”
Since 2008 the DWP has contracted half its IT services, in an attempt to reduce expenditure. The Department’s full procurement agenda is available here.
--
Procurement is not the only agenda being pursued by DWP – Mary Gibson of Nottingham was recently threatened with legal action by the DWP, if she neglected to pay back 1p.
The threat referred to a crisis loan Gibson thought had been repaid. How many services the DWP would have been made to close without the penny is unclear.
Sources
Alexandra Pulin, ‘Fujitsu Wins Department Of Work and Pensions Contract From HP,’ TechEye.net, 16 February 2010.
Andrew Donoghue, ‘DWP Swaps Strike-Hit HP For Strike Hit Fujitsu,’ EWeekEurope.co.uk, 16 February 2010.
Desire Athow, ‘Fujitsu To Roll Out Thin Clients In £300 Million DWP Contract,’ ITPortal.com, 16 February 2010.
John Oates, ‘Fujitsu Grabs Billion Pound HP Contract,’ TheRegister.co.uk, 16 February 2010.
Sunil Kumar, ‘Fujitsu Ties Contract With HP,’ TopNews.co.uk, 16 February 2010.
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