Unisys wins $46.5M extension to Defence IT support deal

Unisys Australia has been handed a $46.5 million extension to its pre-existing IT support services contract with Australia’s Department of Defence.

The new deal sees the local arm of the United States-headquartered IT services and integration firm continue its provision of IT support services to approximately 460 Department of Defence sites and military bases around the country.

The latest addition to the ongoing contractual arrangement between Unisys and the Department of Defence’s Chief Information Officer Group (CIOG), which issued the tender, extends from March 2018 to October 2019.

Unisys won a mammoth multi-year IT support deal worth an initial $240 million with the Department of Defence in 2008. By 2009, the company had transitioned IT support services for the first nine of the 12 regions within Defence that were covered by the contract.

The original contract came with an initial term of five years following the transition period with the potential for two future contract extensions, each of two years duration.

Specifically, the progressive handover of each Defence region to the provider following the contract win was part of the estimated eighteen-month transition period, which was originally scheduled for completion in October 2009.

The deal saw Unisys engaged to provide a range of IT support services in an ongoing basis once the transition period came to its completion. This included network security and infrastructure support, server and desktop used by civilian and military areas of Defence across Australia.

In July 2008, Sydney West and South was the first region to be transitioned and was used as a pilot for the progressive roll-out of the other regions.

The initial transition process involved Unisys working closely with Defence and embedding Unisys transition managers and support staff onsite at the regional sites before each transition handover began.

In 2014, the IT services firm won a $52 million contract extension to provide IT support for the Department of Defence.

Since taking on the contract in 2008, Unisys has helped to standardise IT support processes nationally for the Department.

Late last year, Unisys was awarded a $56 million deal to provide data centre managed services for VicRoads, known as The Roads Corporation.

As part of that contract, Unisys will provide infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) and hosting services including VoIP, email and collaboration solutions and associated implementation and ongoing support services.