By Mike Newlands
Hewlett-Packard Co, IBM Corp and Singapore company National Computer Systems have won the first batch of contracts under the Singapore government’s Ease (Enterprise proActive Support Environment) strategy. Organized by the National Computer Board (NCB), Ease is believed to be the first scheme anywhere to outsource the IT support and services functions in the public sector, with the IT vendor taking over the support and management operations, as well as the technology tools used, for the public sector organization. The total value of the outsourcing contracts, which are for a term of three years until January 31, 2001, is estimated at $60m. So far seven government organizations have signed up with HP and eight each with IBM and NCS. Among the bodies that have signed on are the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Ministry of Law, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Communications, Singapore Tourism Board, the Singapore Broadcasting Authority and the NCB itself. Ease is a new strategy to manage the IT environment in the public sector, and its introduction is part of NBC’s role as the IT architect and master planner to help position the public service for the 21st century, said Wong Jon Tai, an NCB director and head of the Ease project. There are five basic service areas that the Ease contract covers: Providing a single point of contact for all users through a helpdesk; monitoring IT performance and detecting technology faults before they occur; tracking all IT assets electronically; delivering and installing software for users electronically; and planning, implementing and maintaining new systems. Participating government agencies will enjoy lower acquisition costs with common support and services offered as standard packages through economies of scale, said Wong. HP said its Ease contract brings an additional 5,000 government end users under its outsourcing services while IBM announced it would have a team of more than 300 IT professionals serving 5,200 users.
