Seelan Nayagam - CSC managing director and vice president for Australia and New Zealand.
CSC Australia is set to establish a new office in Adelaide, with the aim of creating 400 additional jobs in South Australia, after winning a state-wide end user computing contract from the South Australian Government.
The landmark deal will see CSC provide and support desktop PCs, laptops and tablets to the state’s government agencies, with much of the South Australian Government’s IT hardware footprint set to be handled by the IT services provider.
“The state will no longer own and manage physical devices, giving agencies more flexibility and access to innovative ICT solutions to help modernise the services they deliver to the community,” a statement issued on 16 February by the office of South Australian Premier, Jay Weatherill, said.
“This approach, which reflects one of the state’s economic priorities to achieve growth through innovation, uses government purchasing power to help create services and grow the local ICT industry.
“This more efficient, end-to-end approach will reduce costs as government will only pay for the services it consumes. Once implemented, the new arrangement is expected to deliver savings of over $11 million per year,” it said.
The State Government said the new contract is expected to provide reskilling and employment opportunities for up to 30 General Motors-Holden workers – the company’s Elizabeth manufacturing plant is set to close in October this year.
The deal will also see CSC invest $5 million to establish a new office in Adelaide to make way for increases in its workforce, which is set to rise from 100 to more than 700 by the end of the contract period. CSC will also establish a centre of excellence for end user computing.
However, the government conceded that the move to outsource its IT services to CSC could see up to 180 of its full-time equivalent staff that are currently delivering end user computing services across the government’s footprint asked to re-apply for a position with CSC.
The additional 400 jobs that are set to be created as a result of the deal are in addition to these 180 positions, and will support existing CSC clients across Australia and New Zealand.
“This heralds a new era in how the government purchases ICT services,” Weatheril said. “These new arrangements will give state government agencies access to the latest ICT solutions that will help them to deliver flexible and contemporary services to all South Australians.
“The broader economic and employment benefits that will flow from CSC winning the contract are significant. They have committed to establish a local partner network for small to medium local enterprises across the state that will support this new contract.
“Collectively, these SMEs will employ 100 South Australians and invest more than $30 million in job creation over the contract period,” he said.
The multi-year deal came about following an open market call in June 2015 inviting local IT industry players to provide expressions of interest for innovative IT proposals.
