BAE renews IT outsourcing contract

CSC wins £1bn contract renewal

BAE Systems has renewed an outsourcing agreement with CSC in a deal worth $1.9bn (£1bn) over the next five years.

Under the new contract, which replaces the previous deal due to end in October, CSC will continue to manage services such as mainframe and midrange computers, servers and desktops, networking, internet services, helpdesk, application development and support for the defence and aerospace firm.

Through the existing agreement, CSC provides IT services to 13 BAE Systems’ businesses operating in 117 locations in the UK and North America.

Chris Coupland, director of IT and ebusiness for BAE Systems, says there are three things the firm expects from the contract.

‘We wanted a flexible deal, savings and improved performance in terms of service,’ he said.

‘The test will be how well CSC is prepared to bring specialists and capability in.’

Coupland says BAE Systems put a lot of preparation into ensuring the right agreement.

‘We started looking at the 2006 project in early 2004, and took four months getting smart about outsourcing. We looked at how firms moved to different outsourcing models,’ he said.

‘The scope of what’s in the deal is not much different from today’s deal, but fundamentally it’s a non-exclusive deal whereas before it was monolithic with large areas exclusive to CSC. We can move towards a best-of-breed model if that’s the right answer.’