Computacenter awarded a £ 3.75 million managed services contract by TAN

Computacenter has been appointed to provide managed support services for the Traffic Area Network (TAN) unit of the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions (DTLR).The five-year contract worth £750,000 per annum, with the option to extend to ten years, will support TAN's technology infrastructure following the roll-out of a new Information and Communications Technology (ICT) infrastructure to support the e-delivery of the unit's business services by its 350 staff throughout Great Britain.

The contract has been awarded following a competitive tendering process advertised in the Official journal of the European Commission (OJEC). DTLR were assisted by Hedra, a management consultancy specialising in business transformation in the UK public services.

TAN is the unit of the DTLR that manages Heavy goods Vehicle (HGV) and Passenger Service Vehicle (PSV) operator licensing. It has six regional offices, but has recently implemented a common operating environment and wide area network that allows all data to be centralised. This means that any appropriately qualified member of staff in any office will be able to assist the TAN's customers.

Under the contract Computacenter will provide first, second and third line support for the TAN's complete desktop and server infrastructure, complete with all applications, including its network connectivity and management.

According to Keith Harding, ICT Director at TAN, business continuity is vital to the successful delivery of the unit's business services, so the unit turned to an outside supplier on the basis that it could secure a guaranteed level of service, within a cost effective pricing structure. "We have spent nearly £6 million on restructuring the business to deliver our services using the latest e-business technology. This has included Computacenter rolling out a Microsoft Windows 2000 and Exchange infrastructure with us that will allow our staff access to the new licensing and compliance services. These services will also be available to our customers and partners via a new website.

The new infrastructure also supports a virtual call centre by implementing a technology that allows any of our staff in any of our offices to deal with inbound enquiries about HGV or PSV licensing. Having invested so heavily in such a complex infrastructure, we knew it made sense to have a company that knew the infrastructure and its technologies intimately to provide support across the entire range of new systems."

  "As well as its technical skills, Computacenter is delivering the most cost-effective solution," he continues. "A key reason for the Windows 2000 implementation was the reduced support costs this platform offers. To take full advantage of these we looked for a company capable of delivering end-to-end support seamlessly to guaranteed Service Levels. Computacenter's proposition represents a value for money means of raising the level of service we can offer to our customers".

Multi-level support
Computacenter's CallCenter at Milton Keynes will provide the first level support that will give the unit's staff an immediate response to queries and problems. A key part of the contract is the use of remote network monitoring and maintenance which allows Computacenter engineers to remedy the majority of issues without the need for an engineer visit. High level support issues can be escalated by the CallCenter to both hardware and software specialists, initially within Computacenter, who have the highest number of registered MCSEs outside Microsoft in the UK, or if necessary to the vendor or software manufacturer.

Colin Brown, Sector Director of Government, Computacenter states   "We are delighted to be working with the DTLR in a partnership that represents an excellent example of Computacenter delivering value through its range of integrated infrastructure services across multi-vendor environments. Like most commercial organisations, the DTLR is moving its service delivery to an electronic platform, and has invested in the latest infrastructure to support this. The Department's need is for a seamless support operation that can sense issues before they arise, and deal with them immediately".