Atos, an international IT services company, has announced that it has been awarded a five year contract worth £74 million by the Department of Health. Under the contract, Atos will deliver an integrated IT desktop service plus a range of supporting services within the Department of Health (DH) and for some of its Arms Length Bodies.

A spokesperson for the DH said: “The procurement was conducted against the ASCC framework using an in-house team and has delivered a flexible contract that will result in savings of around 40% on the current cost of service across the life of the contract.”

The contract draws together the desktop solution for the Department and some of its Arms Length Bodies, such as, the Care Quality Commission, into a common, high-quality, integrated, shared service. It supports the aims of the Government Strategy for ICT, both in reducing costs and ensuring the necessary ICT is in place to deliver DH reforms and modernisation in 2012 and beyond.