Bull charges Barnsley £76.8m in IT deal

French IT services company Bull Information Systems has won a £76.8m outsourcing deal at Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council.

The 10-year deal is part of Barnsley's plans to re-engineer the delivery of all its IT services as part of a wider modernisation initiative at the local authority.

Barnsley's main objective is a "more cost effective, reliable, secure and responsive" IT infrastructure that can cope with the growing technical demands associated with moves towards mobile and flexible working, including homeworking.

A new joint venture company, called Tuscan Connects, has been set up to handle the majority of the services covered by the outsourcing deal. The joint venture is 80 per cent owned by Bull and 20 per cent by the council.

A spokeswoman for Barnsley said 105 IT staff will transfer over to Bull under Tupe employment transfer regulations as part of the contract.