Electronic Data Systems Corp has won a monster $450m 10-year facilities management contract from First Fidelity Bancorp of Lawrenceville, New Jersey – but the bank looks to save $50m a year from its expenses from the agreement. EDS will take on 300 of its staff, and undertake a major programme of merging software systems and consolidating the computer centres in New Brunswick and Philadelphia into a single centre within six months. The bank has grown by acquisition, and each has brought different software systems to handle essentially the same services, so EDS is being asked to reduce 250 different applications to about 60 over 18 months. It is noteworthy that, despite the rush by the likes of IBM, Unisys and DEC to try to get into facilities management, the contract went to a long-time specialist. Many other US banks are expected to look to facilities management to cut costs.
