Edinburgh Council signs £186m IT outsourcing and digital services deal with CGI

Council aims to make cost savings of £45m, while CGI claims deal will create over 200 new jobs and more than 60 apprenticeships

The City of Edinburgh Council has awarded IT services company CGI Group a seven-year contract worth £186m to provide "transformational" outsourced ICT services to help the local authority make a shift to digital services.

The council is aiming to make cost savings of £45m over the seven-year period, and CGI claims that it will create over 200 new jobs and more than 60 openings for apprenticeships as a result of the deal.

The IT services provider, which acquired Logica in 2011, said it would upgrade the council's IT infrastructure to improve bandwidth speeds at schools. It is also aiming to automate and integrate back-office processes with a new ERP system.

The council wants to encourage citizens to carry out transactions online using a digital self-service platform based on specialist local government software. The platform will also be integrated with back-office systems, including a new ERP system, and the council hopes that this will drive cost reductions as well as improve capacity, service quality and citizen engagement.

"The council is delighted to be entering into partnership with CGI. In signing this contract we will transform the way we do business," said councillor Alasdair Rankin, convener of the City of Edinburgh Council's finance and resources committee.

"People are at the heart of our organisation whether they are citizens, staff or working in the city's economy. One of the exciting things CGI will do is to speed up our move to greater online capability, giving residents and businesses greater flexibility to engage with the council and carry out their transactions digitally. This will make us a more efficient and effective organisation across our wide range of council services," he continued.

The contract can be extended, initially by five years with further extension options available after that period.