Source: Australianit.news.com.au

Hexaware was among eight firms that were initially invited last year to submit bids for the applications maintenance and support panel, which is being assembled as Customs breaks up its nine-year-old outsourcing deal with EDS.

Customs last week confirmed that it was negotiating with EDS and Kaz as its preferred suppliers, having previously culled its initial list of eight possible suppliers to a panel of five.

The final five firms were EDS, Kaz, CSC, Fujitsu and IBM, and they will formally become Customs’ applications maintenance and support panellists once a deed of standing offer has been finalised.

The failure of Hexaware to make it to the panel is a blow to India’s software services providers, who are eager to break into the lucrative federal government market.

Federal agencies, charged with maintaining sensitive information on millions of Australians, as well as reams of data linked to border and national security, have to date been reluctant to send technology work overseas.

The Australian Taxation Office has seriously considered offshoring, but opted not to pursue the practice.

Customs was seen as the next most likely candidate for offshore outsourcing thanks to Mumbai-based Hexaware’s inclusion on the initial list of invited bidders.

The announcement of EDS and Kaz as preferred applications maintenance and support contractors came as Customs finalised a five-year, $160 million mainframe and mid-range outsourcing contract with IBM.

The contract is the one of four new outsourcing agreements being struck as Customs breaks up its nearly decade-old contract with EDS.

Negotiations are ongoing with preferred suppliers for applications, internet and secure gateway and voice infrastructure.

Telstra is the preferred supplier for voice while Cybertrust is preferred for internet and secure gateway services.

Customs hopes to sign voice, internet and secure gateway services contracts by the middle of this month.

Customs IT market testing national manager Jo Hein said transition planning for the move from EDS to IBM for mainframe services had been under way for some time.

She also said the agency had been gradually bringing planning functions that were outsourced to EDS in the 1990s back in-house in preparation for its move to a multisourcing arrangement for information and communication technology services.

Ms Hein is also fielding calls from a number of other federal government agencies that are in the process of market-testing their IT services as the last of the big-bang contracts signed under the controversial $5 billion, mandatory outsourcing program wind-down.

Agencies that have issued tenders for market-testing services in the past month include the Department of Health and Ageing, Medicare Australia and Group 8 contract member the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.

Source: www.business-standard.com

Very close to acquiring an European IT firm for $20-25 million (around Rs.100-crore) Indian IT major, Patni Computer Systems is expected to announce the deal within the next two months.

An acquisition of major importance, two private equity majors i.e. Apax and Carlyle, are in advanced discussions to acquire a 20% stake in the Indian IT major from Ashok Kumar Patni and Gajendra Kumar Patni, two of its largest shareholders, who together hold approximately a 29% share in Patni Computer Systems.

Sources close to the development confirm, the takeover of the media and telecom operations of the European firm, whose name stands undisclosed, has been finalised by Patni, and the acquisition is scheduled closure within 45-days.

Patni, India’s sixth largest firm, eager to strengthen its foothold in Europe and USA, including increasing its presence in the media and telecom space, has been on the lookout for suitable acquisiton targets in Europe and USA.

Declining to comment when contacted, however, Deepak Khosla, Senior Vice-President (Strategic Initiatives) of Patni admitted his firm was interested in finding strategic fits in USA and Europe.

In June 2006, Patni, in keeping with its global plans, in an asset purchase transaction of $425,000 acquired US-based ZAiQ Technologies, an integrated service (ASIC) design firm that provides outsourced design services and software products to firms, who are in the business of developing complex, high performance systems and integrated circuits.