CGI signs contract extension with water market operator

CGI UK has announced that Market Operator Services Ltd, England’s market operator for the non-household water retail market, has extended its contract with CGI for a further three years. The two companies have worked together for the past five years, and this new contract aims to help MOSL realise its ambitious business plans to support and improve the non-household water market.

As of April 2017, Market Operator Services Limited (MOSL) is responsible for the smooth and efficient running of the non-household water market in England. Owned by all of England’s water companies, both wholesalers and retailers, who trade in the competitive market, the organisation allows over 1.2 million business customers including public sector bodies, charities and not-for-profit organisations in England to choose who supplies their retail water and wastewater services.

Prior to the market opening, MOSL played a key role in the development and evolution of the codes which govern the market, as well as by designing, building and implementing the central IT systems – known as CMOS – which sits at the heart of the market. In order to improving the efficiency of these services provided to the market, and gain support for MOSL’s aim of making it easier to do business and developing innovative additional service offerings, the organisation has extended its five-year-long relationship with international consultancy CGI.

John Davies, Chief Information Officer, at MOSL said, “MOSL has developed an ambitious business plan that reflects the maturity of the market and ensures a relentless focus on getting the basics right and providing value for money for retailers and wholesalers. With much of the business plan being enabled or supported by technology change, it is crucial that we have a clear technology vision. By working closely with CGI we hope to drive both efficiency and innovation, creating a better functioning market that reduces overall market issues and risk, and makes MOSL easier to do business with and builds capability for the future.”

CGI’s contract has been extended for a further three years, in a move worth approximately £6 million. The extension came on the third anniversary of CMOS’ launch – and the system was originally based on components of CGI’s central market system IP, and developed using experience gained in a number of utility central market implementations. On any given day, CMOS now processes an average of 90,000 transactions made by more than 3,600 active system users, while allowing 1.2 million businesses, from the smallest charities to the largest public authorities, to choose their retailer of water and waste water services.

Mark Aston, Senior Vice President, Utilities for CGI in the UK said, “The extended contract will allow CGI to work closely with MOSL and support their ambitious business plans to support and improve the non-household water market. In particular CGI will bring innovative solutions to drive efficiency and service excellence – which we know is a key theme of MOSL’s 2020/21 Business Plan - and support new initiatives around data analytics and customer experience.”

Earlier in the year, CGI also extended its relationships with house builder Taylor Wimpey and insurance giant Admiral to supply managed IT services. The extensions both extended the firm’s working relationship with the respective clients by five years.