Swansea ends 18-month IT nightmare

Swansea council has finally signed an £83m IT outsourcing contract with Capgemini after a protracted and bitter 18-month battle over jobs with staff and the trade union Unison.

The 10-year deal between the council and Capgemini was initially agreed more than a year ago but was delayed as the row over the terms and conditions for the transfer of Swansea IT staff to the private sector rumbled on.

That resulted in the threat of further strike action after Unison accused Swansea Council of reneging on an agreement to give staff the option of permanent transfer or secondment to Capgemini.

Swansea IT staff lost their fight after the council agreed for the permanent transfer of the staff to Capgemini and that resulted in the threat of further strike action after Unison accused the council of reneging on an agreement to give staff the option of secondment.

The contract was finally signed by Swansea council on 30 December, 2005 and Mary Jones, the council's cabinet member for "top performance and e-government", said it will transform the way the council operates. She said in a statement: "We will introduce world-class IT systems and new working practices which will save millions of pounds each year by replacing outdated systems that currently cost us time and money... the programme pays for itself — the people of Swansea will have a modern and efficient council providing better services without any extra cost."

The deal will see Capgemini design, build and run new IT systems for the council as well as manage the existing IT systems on an outsourced basis for the next 10 years. A later phase of the contract will focus on customer access to services through a new call centre and Internet services.