Spain Fujitsu sign £25 million deal with Cafcass for public sector Flex

Cafcass (The Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service), a non-departmental public body which looks after the interests of children involved in family legal proceedings, joins public sector Flex. Flex is the framework which allows Fujitsu Services in conjunction with the Cabinet Office to provide information and communication technology (ICT) as a shared service across the public sector. The contract, valued at £25 million, is for a seven year term with a refresh of both hardware and software after four years.

The Flex service will deliver cost savings and reduce the total cost of ownership for Cafcass. It will significantly improve the end user experience for office based workers as well as improving the effectiveness and security of employees working remotely from family courts, home or from other Government offices. The framework will also help Cafcass to achieve its carbon emission targets.

Lamorna Wooderson, corporate director at Cafcass, comments, “Cafcass has a significant change agenda planned over the next few years. We chose to work with Fujitsu as a strategic partner to support us through this transformation because of their breadth of capability and experience in transforming services for Government.”

Wooderson continues, “The Flex framework offers a modern IT infrastructure, with improved levels of service and support and access to a range of consultancy skills and experience. Improvements in the security and protection of data were also a top priority for us - as a department which looks after the interests of children this is vital. Through Flex, our staff will be able to work more effectively and efficiently whilst working remotely but with the confidence that sensitive data will not be compromised.”

Fujitsu will provide managed desktop services for 2,000 users across 100 offices and implement a complete refresh of the hardware and software, including a mix of laptops and thin-client devices, service desk and server management and disaster recovery. Furthermore, Fujitsu will provide a new suite of Office applications and manage Cafcass’s existing line of business applications.

Eithne Wallis CB, managing director, Government Business, Fujitsu Services comments, “Government bodies are increasingly beginning to see the advantages and benefits which Flex can provide. The service is flexible and scalable meaning that organisations can easily accommodate changes in user numbers but still forecast and manage costs. The cost savings from a shared service approach are undeniable and because the framework agreement is managed by the Cabinet Office, value assurance is guaranteed. Cafcass will also benefit from a further reduction in costs - the price per user will continue to fall over time as new users join the shared service.”

All aspects of the project will be managed to ITIL® (ITIL® is a Registered Trade Mark of AXELOS Limited) standards and Government restricted security levels and provided from Fujitsu secure Data Centres. The transformation project will take approximately 8 months with service commencement in October 2008.