The UK’s financial sector regulator the Financial
Services Authority has signed an eight-year outsourcing deal with
Fujitsu worth £80.8 million.
The deal will see Fujitsu providing improved infrastructure
service support and a technology refresh. And in a separate £5.1
million deal, outsourcing specialist Xansa will provide application
support and maintenance to the watchdog for three years.
Under the Tupe regulation for transferring employees, 41 of the
FSA’s IT staff are due transfer to Fujitsu, while 11 to will move
to Xansa.
The restructuring will see the FSA retain 104 permanent IT staff
and 100 contractors, according to IS director Darryl Salmons.
The FSA is hoping that the two deals will enable it to transform
the performance of its IS function. The regulator's IS capability
was criticised in a report by consultancy Orbys in summer 2005 for
failing to meet the requirements of the business.
“The fact that we are outsourcing the commodity aspects of IT
forces more strategic thinking internally to build new systems,
manage partners, and build relationships with the business,”
Salmons said.
“Where we need knowledge, the FSA retains that in-house.”
Financial services companies use FSA applications to file
regulatory returns, and the FSA's Arrow 2 systems are used to
identify the companies that pose the greatest risks to the
financial markets.
Salmons said Fujitsu would add greater resilience to the FSA’s
datacentres, while Xansa was expected to maintain some software
from development centres in India.
Last August, the FSA announced a framework deal with Capgemini,
Tata Consultancy and Xansa to outsource five application
development programmes.
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