CMG and Computacenter sign £120m HSE partnership

CMG, the global Information and Communications Technology (ICT) services group, working in partnership with Computacenter, the UK’s premier integrated infrastructure service provider, has signed a contract worth over £120m with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), to provide IT and consultancy services over the next ten years. The project, called REtendering For IT (REFIT), is an exciting next stage in the government’s use of output-based services. It will help the HSE improve its working practices and extend the reach of the organisation by making the best use of its staff expertise. The project is due to commence in July 2001, with CMG and Computacenter taking full responsibility for the service in October 2001 following a three month transition period.

CMG and Computacenter won the contract in a heavily contested tender process conducted under EU procurement rules. The final shortlist included a joint Compaq/Logica team, as well as Sema, and Bull-Integris (the incumbent). The breadth and depth of their joint knowledge and resources was a prime factor in successfully securing a preferred supplier status for the CMG and Computacenter partnership.

The HSE is a government agency that ensures that the risks to the health and safety of people from work activities are properly controlled. It develops new health and safety laws and policies, and plays a full part in international developments, especially in the European Union.

The HSE’s business model is a complicated one, involving many professional and knowledge-based activities. Because of this, there is an increasing need for integration and knowledge sharing across the organisation. CMG and Computacenter will provide business change consultancy, and new software applications, together with the IT infrastructure required to ensure that HSE’s staff can work most effectively to protect the public’s health and safety.

Commenting on the project, Richard Hillier, Director of Resources & Planning, at the HSE said:“At a time when IT is changing at tremendous speed, it is comforting to know that we are working with a partner who can help us to realise genuine business benefits from new technologies. During the negotiations for this contract, the CMG, Computacenter and HSE relationship has already developed a strong ethos of partnership, shared management and flexibility. We are confident that the REFIT partnership will deliver genuine improvements both within HSE and in our dealings with the public, industry and other government bodies.”

CMG and Computacenter’s consultants will provide the HSE with a broad range of skills including management consultancy, advice on emerging capabilities, IT infrastructure management and products such as Bluetooth wireless applications and mobile Internet services. The overall impact of the project on the HSE will be huge in terms of working practices within the organisation. The result will be improved business and IT, allowing the HSE to extend the external reach of its policies.

Commenting on the partnership, Geoff Neville, Chairman of CMG’s UK and Ireland operation, said:“It was clear from the outset of this open tender that a partnership approach was the best way to provide the HSE with a ‘best-of-class’ value-for-money service. For CMG this follows a long line of large partnership deals. As the prime contractor, working with Computacenter and the HSE team, we look forward to working on a high profile project which will help push forward the boundaries of modernising government.”

Peter Melville-Brown, Programme Manager of Computacenter believes that the partnership between CMG and Computacenter will leverage both companies’ strengths to the HSE’s benefit. “The HSE has decided to focus on delivering its services and to outsource completely the infrastructure it uses. The whole contract is designed from a functionality approach – the HSE will say that it wishes to achieve something, and it is down to CMG and Computacenter to identify the best way to deliver and implement it. It is a very fresh way of looking at outsourcing and a major evolution from conventional outsourcing that tends to focus first on the technology.”