Australian Department of Defence extends Unisys contract

The Australian Department of Defence has extended, for an additional two years, its IT services contract with Unisys. The deal will see Unisys provide IT support for 100,000 end users at approximately 450 Defence locations across Australia, as well as emergency response and drill support. The deal is valued at $54 million.

The Australian Department of Defence (ADoD) was founded in 1942 and has since been responsible for the defence of Australia and its national interests. The department, headquartered in Canberra, has a staff of more than 20,000 Australian Public Service (APS) employees at the start of last year, and a budget in excess of $31.9 billion for the 2015/2016 period.

Since 2008, the ADoD has been supported by Unisys’ Australian subsidiary. Unisys has provisioned the ADoD with a range of IT support services, through a flexible workforce model based on man-hour capacity and prioritised services. Through the model, the department is supported with price predictability, control over workforce efforts and focus, as well as workforce use reporting.

It was recently announced that the contract between the ADoD and Unisys’ Australian subsidiary has been extended for a two year period. The deal, valued at $54 million, will see the firm continue to provide IT support for 100,000 end users at approximately 450 Defence locations across Australia. The firm will, in addition, provide emergency disaster response support for flooding and bushfire response to the ADoD, as well as support joint service and international military exercises.

Lysandra Schmutter, Public Sector Lead at Unisys Asia Pacific, says that the firm is “delighted” about the continuation of the contract with the ADoD, adding that: "Our renewal with the Department of Defence is a testament to the value we collectively have brought to provide a high quality of services and insights to support the critical operations across their bases nationwide. Our focus is on the critical role of base operations in defense and ensuring they are executing efficiently and effectively at all times.”