FFW advises the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister on major IT outsourcing
16 February 2006
Field Fisher Waterhouse (FFW) has advised the Office of the
Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) on the outsourcing of the Department’s
IT services to Steria Ltd. The contract, which signed earlier
this month, initially covers a five year period and is estimated to
be worth £30 million delivering substantial savings to the
ODPM.
ODPM is the central government department whose responsibilities
include housing, planning, regional and local government and the
fire service. Steria will be responsible for taking over the
ODPM’s entire IT desktop infrastructure and developing it to meet
the Offices future needs. Steria will also be
responsible for the introduction of a new Electronic Document and
Records Management System (EDRMS).
ODPM’s previous IT provider was the Department for Transport and
the outsourcing includes a ‘decoupling’ process which involves the
separation of the departments’ respective systems. FFW is
also currently working on a similar project for the Government
Offices for the Regions, which is expected to be signed over the
next couple of months.
This project underlines FFW’s position as a leading adviser on
public sector outsourcing agreements and follows on from IT
outsourcing agreements recently negotiated for the Foreign Office
and the UK Passport Service. FFW also recently boosted its IT
practice with the appointment of IT and outsourcing partner, Simon
Briskman, from Olswang and David Naylor from Morrison and
Foerster.
The FFW team consisted of Rob Shooter, Andrew Joint and Huw
Beverley-Smith.
Michael Chissick, Head of Technology Law at FFW, said:
'Over the last three years we have advised on 12 large public
sector desktop outsourcing projects and we are delighted to have
completed this project which is strategically very important for
the ODPM .'
Steria was advised by in-house counsel Jeremy Shewring.
For further press information please contact:
Louise Eckersley, PR Executive, on 020 7861 4120
Ben Girdlestone, Communications Manager, on 020 7861 4968