Nuclear Decommissioning Authority selects Atos for £140m IT outsourcing contract

Public body hopes for 30 per cent cost savings over five-year period

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has awarded a £140m IT outsourcing contract to French IT services provider Atos.

The NDA reports to the Department of Energy and Climate Change and is the non-departmental organisation responsible for decommissioning the UK's civil nuclear legacy.

The procurement arm of the NDA, the Shared Services Alliance (SSA), selected Atos to cover all IT services for the NDA's four members: Sellafield, Magnox, National Nuclear Laboratories and the Low Level Waste Repository.

Atos will provide IT services including networking, desktop, applications and hosting services in addition to service integration and management.

The NDA hopes that the five-year deal will enable Atos to consolidate and improve the NDA's existing infrastructures for its 18,000 end users in a bid to save over 30 per cent over the contract period.

Keith Gibson, project manager at the SSA, said: "This is a very significant contract for all the businesses involved. It signals a period of significant change, with the new contract having a strong focus on investment and future benefits realisation. It will reduce costs by simplifying IT support arrangements and provide a solid platform for future developments."

Gibson said that the bidding process for IT services providers looked at a number of factors including technical capability, benefits realisation, cost, experience, service levels and innovation.