The deal, projected to be worth approximately $AU12 million ($US9.5 million) over three years, covers the Department of Premier of Cabinet (DPC) and the Department of Treasury and Finance (DTF).

Unisys will provide a range of services including: service desk, deskside support, IMACs (Installs, Moves, Adds, Changes), Lotus Notes administration, network management and server management to more than 1,300 users at five Central Business District (CBD) locations in Melbourne. While Unisys had previously provided services to these departments, this is a new contract with expanded scope and services, including disaster recovery, process improvement and consulting.

"In line with government procurement policy, we went back to the market for these services and, having assessed our needs, we set the bar much higher," said Director Information and Technology Services (DPC and DTF) Ian Thomas. "Unisys understood our existing needs, but also rose to the challenge of meeting our increased expectations for innovative service delivery and value for money."

Mr. Thomas said the tender called for significant process change to align its operation with the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) framework to improve service and reduce operational costs. According to Mr. Thomas, "ITIL is now the world's most widely accepted approach to IT service management, providing a cohesive service catalogue and responsibility matrix that reduces expensive contract changes by ensuring both client and supplier approval."

"In its bid, Unisys demonstrated a commitment to service management," Mr. Thomas said. "We were looking for a partner with a global understanding of IT as a service to support business process, not just a technology. Unisys global experience will provide benchmarks against which we can continue to improve our service to the Departments, which will ultimately benefit all Victorians."

Unisys has a long history of working with the Victorian Government. "But we won this contract against stiff competition in a six-month, open tender process," said Guy Barnes, vice president and general manager, Unisys Global Infrastructure Services, Australia-New Zealand. "There's no doubt that local experience helped, but we secured the tender because we demonstrated our ability to manage the organisation's assets more effectively, including its people, infrastructure, systems and products."