§ Earl Russellasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the Department of Social Security has concluded or is negotiating on any computer contract with the firm EDS. [HL10]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Social Security (Baroness Hollis of Heigham)The department has a number of existing contracts in place with EDS covering the day to day operations of computer systems.
As part of the ACCORD procurement, the department is also working with the Affinity consortium, led by EDS. This is to prepare the work necessary to design the strategic components of the next generation of DSS Information Systems/Information Technology (IS/IT).
Formal contractual negotiations are also under way between Affinity and the Department to outsource our development, delivery and support work. Subject to satisfactory negotiations, Affinity will become responsible for arranging and managing the department's existing IT development work, day-to-day IT delivery and support arrangements, and management of other IT suppliers.