Contents | November 2006 | SPECIAL EDITION
Data Center Services Contract Signed
After careful analysis and hard work from the state evaluation and negotiation teams, the Texas data center services contract has been awarded to IBM. This contract expands on and will replace the current data center services contract when it expires in August 2007. The new contract will save the state over $159 million over seven years and has the potential for three one-year extensions. Key features of the contract include:
- $25 million in savings for the FY 2008-2009 biennium.
- 5-10% raises for all affected employees.
- Strict contract requirements for performance monitoring.
- Over 20% participation by historically underutilized business (HUB) vendors.
- Increased security and disaster recovery across all agencies.
- New Austin data center in addition to the existing San Angelo facility.
- Time to safely transition services before current contract expires next year.
This contract will help achieve the House Bill 1516 goal of having a more robust and secure statewide infrastructure while reducing overall state data center costs. Future Data Center Download issues will have more information on the transition and technical solution.
Employee Job Offers
Each affected employee will receive a job offer on December 6 from IBM, Unisys, Xerox, or Pitney Bowes, depending on current job function and skill sets. Offers will:
- Include 5-10% increase over current salary, which takes into account both longevity pay and benefit replacement pay.
- Be comparable to each employee’s current overall benefits package.
- Include immediate health care coverage (no waiting period).
- Be for regular employment, with a commitment to work on State of Texas systems for at least one year.
- Be for jobs in the employee’s current city (no relocation required).
DIR has formed a human resources transition team of HR directors from some of the participating agencies. The team will work with agencies over the next few months to ensure employees understand their choices and receive support through the transition. Many transition team members participated on the evaluation team and continue to be employee advocates. The transition team has already planned several helpful events for affected employees. These events are listed on the next page.
Upcoming Events
The HR transition team developed these events to get information to employees as soon as possible after contract signing:
- Employee Information Sessions. Presented by the state and IBM, these meetings will describe the technical solution and offer employees an opportunity to meet members of the IBM team, including Unisys, Pitney-Bowes, and Xerox representatives. Because of room size, only affected employees and select management may attend. Employees should pick the session that is most convenient for them as all sessions are the same. Employees not located in Austin or Huntsville will be contacted by agency management to make any necessary special arrangements.
Austin: November 29th, MCC Building, 3925 West Braker Lane
Choice of: 9:00–11:00 am, 1:00–3:00 pm, or 3:30–5:30 pm
Huntsville: November 30th, Old Administration Building, Main Conference Room (#103), 815 11th Street
Choice of: 10:30–12:00 pm or 1:00–2:30 pm
- Offer Letters. On December 6, each affected employee will receive a job offer from IBM, Unisys, Pitney Bowes or Xerox.
- Benefits Information Sessions. These meetings will introduce affected employees to the details of their benefit plan choices. Each partner will bring benefit specialists to present plans and answer questions. After job offer letters are delivered, each employee will be invited by his or her prospective employer to a Benefits Information Session. These sessions will occur the week of December 11–15.
- One-on-One Meetings. To be held in January and February, these meetings will give affected employees an opportunity to discuss their current skills and future career goals with a manager from the prospective employer.
These events give affected employees multiple avenues to meet service provider personnel and learn about future possibilities and career growth. The IBM team wants and needs Texas employees and will work hard to help employees understand the long-term career opportunities that are available with these companies.
Asking Questions
Affected employees are encouraged to ask questions in person during information sessions and one-on-one meetings. Additionally, anyone with questions can always submit them to DIR:
- Anonymous question form
- E-mail
DIR will route questions, if needed, to one of the IBM team members for a response. DIR will respond directly to all questions where contact information is provided, and frequently asked questions will be posted on the DIR Web site.
Partner Roles
The IBM team includes Unisys, Pitney Bowes, Xerox, other partners, and numerous HUB firms. Each partner brings industry expertise to the project, forming an important part of the technical solution. Roles and responsibilities include:
- IBM: Overall program management, mainframe and server consolidation, information technology operations, transition, and transformation.
- Unisys: Data center operations, facilities management, support center operations, and problem management.
- Xerox: Print management and operations.
- Pitney Bowes: Mail management and operations.
AT&T, DELL, HUBs, and other subcontractors: Change management, risk management, communications management, user acceptance training, data center operations, consolidation, and hardware and software.
