Industry news

Lincolnshire County Council have revealed plans for a new outsourcing project covering key services in 2015, valued at around £210 million.

The new outsourcing project will cover services including ICT infrastructure, software application management and server management.

The new outsourcing contract will replace the current services contract held by Mouchel, which has been running since 2000, separating services operating under a single vendor into individual contracts through a multi-vendor approach.

The announcement of a new outsourcing scheme was revealed through the posting of online tenders. The new tenders for Council services request that bidders demonstrate how they can innovate and provide services that are not currently provided by suppliers.

The move to a multi-vendor approach reflects the councils desire to support SMEs within the local economy.

Judith Hetherington-Smith, Lincolnshire’s programme director, said: “we’ve decided to offer a number of smaller contracts instead of a single all-encompassing one. This more tailored approach will not only give us more flexibility, which is vital in the current financial climate, but will also create more opportunities for smaller suppliers.”

The tendering process is expected to be finalised by April 2014, with the new contract suppliers providing services from April 2015.

Lincolnshire council prepare for outsourcing procurement

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East Cheshire NHS Trust has awarded the running of its HR service to arvato, the contract will see arvato manage and operate the Trust’s HR service provider known as Cheshire HR Service.

The contract is expected to deliver significant costs savings with results that can be achieved rapidly, increased efficiencies and improving the overall service offering of the HR department.

The transition of services to arvato is expect to be finalised by April 2013, with the awarding of the new contract opening up further NHS opportunities for the company.

The contract comes on the back of its public sector success in securing the operation of the UK Government's first shared service centre.

John Wilbraham, Chief Executive, East Cheshire NHS Trust, said: ““The time is right to hand the HR Service over to a strategic commercial partner to take the service forward, leverage its success and ensure it reaches its full potential.”

UK government plans second shared service centre

NHS looks to paperless savings

BP is looking to sell its U.S. wind farm business, putting up 16 farms up for sale as it renews its focus on gas and oil services.

BP have in previous years moved away from other ‘green’ technologies, eliminating carbon capturing technology in 2008.

The move to sell its wind operations places a significant dent in the energy giant’s renewable energy division, representing a departure from the company’s attempts to be seen to be moving away from traditional fuel sources.

Ironically the sale of BP’s wind farms is lightly to fund the cost of raising around $38 billion to fund costs relating to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill which resulted in the deaths of workers and created a major environmental disaster.

A BP spokesman said: “"BP has decided to market for sale our US wind energy business as part of a continuing effort to become a more focused on oil and gas company and reposition the company for sustainable growth into the future.”

BP banned from future US contracts

Three London councils have moved to create a shared services ICT framework, they are expected to invest as much as £1.1 billion in the new service alongside other councils.

The City of Westminster, Hammersmith & Fulham and Kensington & Chelsea will develop the service over a four year period.

The framework was announced through an online tender, seeking suppliers to provide a service desk, designed to enhance the use of data centre services, including computing and infrastructure services.

The tender detailed that: “The successful service provider will need to support the transition of the relevant participating authorities receiving ICT services under that lot to a set of common processes and it may involve the service provider investing in the service delivery”.

The online tender detailed how the move to the shared services framework will deliver: “streamlined ICT services, improved process efficiency and cost-effectiveness, capacity for self-service where appropriate, improved efficient reporting, identified savings and of course quality of service.”

The deadline for businesses to bid for the tender is on the 3rd of May with services needing to be ready to be operational by November 2014.

Six london councils employ shared services to save 18 million

Having only recently developed the first public sector shared services centre, the UK government have been quick to move forward with plans for its second independent centre.

The Cabinet Office has revealed plans for the new shared services centre in an online tender for a private sector partner to operate the centre.

The partner will have a stake of up to 75 percent in the centre, and will be responsible for management in a contract worth as much as £2 billion, mirroring a contract that Arvato secured for the operation of the first government owned shared services centre.

The latest developments in the Cabinet Office’s plan for the role out of public sector shared services centres are expected to generate savings of up to £600 million per year.

The new plans for shared services in the public sector have been criticised in some sectors, with the National Audit Office describing the new services as being overly complex and inhibiting flexibility.

Government awards Independent Shared Service Centre management contract to arvato

American car giants Ford and Chrysler have recorded their highest US sales in nearly six years during the month of March.

Buyers have been attracted by incentives including low interest rates, tax refund cheques and a growing job market, leading to the highest recorded sales since the heights of 2007.

Ford saw sales rise by 6 percent over the month while Chrysler recorded a 5 percent rise year on year.

General Motors said increased sales were, “thanks to a strengthening economy and new products".

While profits have increased as U.S. consumers begin to increased security, Car manufactures such as Ford have yet to see a stock rise in response to reports of high profits.

The global position of U.S. car manufacturers is less positive, with exports to Europe unexpected to rise, with Ford expecting a loss of $3 billion over the next two years in European markets.

Ford’s Southampton van factory set for closure

GM to hire 10,000 IT workers as it tries to reduce outsourcing

A lack of skilled IT workers are preventing Scottish IT and digital businesses from filling job vacancies and from coping with increasing demand for goods and services.

A survey has revealed that while Scotland is expected to require more than 45,000 new IT and digital professionals over the next five years, 52 percent of surveyed businesses had been forced to look for employees outside of Scotland.

The 2013 Scottish Technology Industry survey found that while 70 percent of respondents were looking for more staff, a 10 percent increase on results from 2012, a lack of skilled new workers had meant that the increasing demand has not met.

Scottish SME’s are particularly dependent on a strong national workforce, reliant on not having to train new staff in order to expand.

Increased IT spending from business development and the move to new IT services has seen increasing growth in the IT and digital services market, but the employee market has failed to match the pace of growth. One of the most in demand employee categories was new graduates at 58 percent.

Scottish economy sees signs of growth

Scotland to announce 2013 investment strategy

Demands for services in American markets have seen a 9 percent rise in outsourcing sales for Accenture.

The consulting giant reported revenues of over $7 billion in its latest finical report for the last three-months, a 3.8 percent increase from the same time last year.

Continued economic instability and uncertainty in European markets saw a flat period of growth for Accenture’s European operations.

The company saw increased demand overall within its outsourcing markets. Accenture CEO Pierre Nanterme said: “We saw very strong demand for our services, with $9.1bn in new bookings, including record consulting bookings-including a 10% local-currency increase in outsourcing.”

Accenture led consortium wins national border control system contract

Business software provider MooD international has been recognised for its role in generating more than £71 million in savings for the Ministry of Defence (MOD).

The supplier has been shortlisted by the UK Council for Electronic Business, for a Excellence Award for its role in supplying services alongside Serco to the MOD’s Defence Business Service (DBS) organisation.

DBS was tasked with improving service performance while sustaining service levels, delivering services through a payment by results contract.

Dick Whittington, Chief Strategy Officer, MooD International, said: “Together we have established stability in MOD service delivery and continue to exceed our objectives for delivering real performance improvements and cost savings.”

MoD awards information management contract to existing suppliers

Swiss based Edelweiss Air is following the example of Swiss International Air Lines by moving its global call centre services from Zurich to Mindpearl in Cape Town effective April this year.

Edelweiss Air currently operates two direct flights into Cape Town, bringing Swiss tourism into the city.

The investment in South Africa comes as businesses increasingly look to the country, which has carved out a niche in providing specialist BDO services and capabilities to a growing international market.

Fiona Meijer-Innes, General Manager of Mindpearl Cape Town, said: “South Africa has become the location of choice for many of the world’s leading businesses and was recently recognised as the Offshoring Destination of the Year in the National Outsourcing Association awards”.

She added that, “we are looking forward being a part of Edelweiss Air’s rapidly developing business.”

Growth in Egypt, Turkey and South Africa predicted to overtake Russian and Brazil in 2013