Serco awarded new European Space Agency IT support contract

Serco, in partnership with Capgemini and Orange Business Services (OBS), has been awarded a new contract to provide IT support services to the European Space Agency (ESA). The five-year contract has a value to Serco of approximately EURO 36m, an optional two year extension and will start on 1 July 2014.

Serco will provide a wide range of Workplace Support services to around 5,000 employees and consultants based at the organisation's main sites in Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain, as well as its headquarters in Paris, France and at other smaller sites around the world, including those employees working on missions and launch campaigns. Separately, consortium partners, Capgemini will provide ESA with a Service Integration and a Service Desk function, while OBS will provide a Private Cloud computing platform.

Serco's responsibilities include IT Fleet Management, Mobile Device Management, Asset Management, and Web Conferencing services, as well as migrating and managing Messaging and Collaboration tools and applications on the Private Cloud. Serco will also run a Local Helpdesk function (separate to Capgemini's central Service Desk) with technical staff on site at five major locations across Europe allowing users to 'walk-in' and open an incident/ticket.

Additionally, Serco will maintain workplace infrastructure at three datacentres located in the Netherlands, Germany and Italy, as well as building and managing a Test Environment in Italy. 'Virtualisation' technology forms part of Serco's innovative solution to enhance and make the workplace infrastructure much more robust and efficient.

ESA's new approach to service provision is a significant move towards positioning their IT Department as a strategic business partner and advisor for integrated IT solutions which will offer added value to the Agency and benefit their entire workforce. Over the course of the contract, the consortium, working together with ESA's IT Department, will very much be looking for the user to be part of the solution by, for example, demonstrating how to use private cloud computing options, 1 Media Release how to collaborate more effectively with colleagues at other ESA sites and beyond, and how to use the facilities already available to their best advantage.