June 30, 2009
Top Stories
TOWERS PERRIN, WATSON WYATT TO MERGE...Global consulting and professional services firms Towers, Perrin, Forster & Crosby and Watson Wyatt Worldwide Inc. said they've agreed to combine in a deal they dubbed "a merger of equals" with an equity value of $3.5 billion. The newly merged company, to be called Towers Watson & Co., will be publicly listed, with estimated annual revenues of more than $3 billion. The Arlington, Va.-based Watson Wyatt says it has 7,700 associates in 34 countries, while the Stamford, Conn.-based Towers Perrin says it employs about 6,300 people in 26 countries.
ACCENTURE BEATS ESTIMATES IN THIRD QUARTER...Accenture reported financial results for the third quarter of fiscal 2009, ended May 31, 2009, with net revenues of $5.15 billion, in line with the company’s guided range. Net revenues declined 16 percent in U.S. dollars and 4 percent in local currency compared with the third quarter last year, reflecting a foreign-exchange impact of negative 12 percent. Diluted earnings per share were $0.68. Operating income was $732 million, a decrease of 15 percent, primarily due to significant negative foreign-exchange.
PEROT SYSTEMS WINS $119 MILLION CDC CONTRACT...Perot Systems Corporation announced that its Fairfax, Virginia-based Government Services Business Unit, won the re-compete for the performance-based contract with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) valued at over $119 million. Perot Systems will provide a wide range of infrastructure support to the CDC's Information Technology Services Office nationally and internationally. Perot Systems Government Services subsidiary QSS Group, Inc. has been the incumbent contractor for these services since 2004.
New Business
HCL Technologies Ltd. (HCL) will provide IT application and infrastructure operations and management for Dr Pepper Snapple Group (DPS), a leading producer of flavored beverages. HCL will deliver application support and maintenance, and manage and monitor infrastructure support and operations leveraging its Managed Services Model. DPS will become HCL's anchor service desk customer at HCL's Raleigh, N.C. global services delivery facility.
AT&T announced a new five-year outsourcing agreement with Amtrak, the nation’s passenger rail service. Under the contract, AT&T will provide a package of telecommunications networking services, including managed security services to help protect Amtrak’s telecommunications network infrastructure.
CACI International Inc has been awarded a $125 million prime contract to support the U.S. Army's Communications-Electronics Command's (CECOM) Fires Software Engineering Division (FSED) in providing software engineering support for fielded fire support systems. The award, for one base year and two option years, was competitively awarded under the Army's Strategic Services Sourcing (S3) contract vehicle. The task order brings the total amount of S3 awards to CACI to nearly $2 billion.
International News
Tata Communications has won a five-year $1.5 billion outsourcing contract from BT Group to provide voice carriage and termination services for various destinations. Under the contract, the company will provide International Direct Dial, IDD, and other voice termination services outside BT's own footprint countries. It will also provide BT access to its routing capabilities and on-line management systems. Additionally, BT will become the company's main distribution channel for its IDD traffic into the UK. The company said the deal will provide both the companies with access to additional capacity and enable them to benefit from their respective extensive global networks and cost structures.
The Australian Taxation Office has awarded a AUS$604 million contract extension to EDS Australia for another two years. EDS will retain responsibility of end-user computing and centralized computing services that the outsourcing firm has provided for the past decade. The original contract was due to expire in June 2010 but the new deadline will be June 2012 under the latest extension. The ATO end-user computing environment consists of 28,000 desktops and 4700 laptops, 1776 laser printers and 370 servers.
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