FFW advise new client The Foreign and Commonwealth Office on novel global technology partnership and outsourcing
18 March 2005
Field Fisher Waterhouse advised The Foreign and Commonwealth
Office (FCO) on a strategic partnership contract with global IT
provider Hewlett-Packard (HP). “Future Firecrest”, as the project
is known, was signed on 16 February and will create a single
online organisation for all FCO locations in the UK and overseas.
FFW was appointed in the Summer of 2003 after a competitive
tender.
The seven-year deal, the largest contract the FCO has ever
signed, breaks new ground in public/private sector procurements.
The partnership is different than traditional outsourcing
arrangements in that HP and FCO in-house IT service providers, FCO
Services, will form a Joint Service Delivery Team under joint
management which will design, plan, implement and operate a global
IT infrastructure called “Future Firecrest”. While HP will be
responsible for overall management, lead responsibility for
individual services elements has been allocated on the basis of
which member of the partnership is best placed to deliver.
FFW was heavily involved in advising on best practice and
drafting and negotiating the contract. Michael Chissick, Head of
the ICT Group, led a large FFW team and was assisted by Rob
Shooter. The team comprised Richard Kenyon (Employment), Karen
Gibb-Davis (Pensions), Andrew Joint and Caroline Barton (IT).
Michael says: “This deal brought with it unique challenges such
as creating the ground-breaking joint service delivery and
dealing with security concerns.”
HP were represented by in-house lawyer Carol Keenan with Baker
McKenzie providing external support on pension and employment
issues.
For further press information, please contact:
Ben Girdlestone, Communications Manager, on +44 (0)20
7861 4968
Louise Eckersley, PR Executive, on +44 (0)20 7861 4120