Atkins Awarded £1m Contract for ICT Taskforce by Welsh Assembly Government

Atkins Education has been awarded a £1m contract from the Welsh Assembly Government's Department for Education and Lifelong Learning

The contract is to form the ICT Task Force and work with the Assembly on identifying the best solutions and procurement methodologies for the provision of information technology and communication solutions to the 2500 schools in Wales.

Atkins Education, working from the Atkins' Newport office, will be working in collaboration with Atkins Business Services to deliver the project over the next three years.

Upon awarding the contract, Jane Davidson, Minister for Education and Lifelong Learning in Wales said: "I am delighted to be working with Atkins on this initiative. They will bring a valuable combination of project management, procurement and technical expertise to this important area of work. They will also be drawing on the views and experience of the education community throughout Wales through a detailed process of consultation and discussion with authorities, schools and stakeholders."

Mick Foote, Managing Director of Atkins Business Services, said; "Atkins is proud and delighted to have won this competitive tender to form the Task Force which will enable Welsh schools and their pupils to take much better advantage of today's technology in education. Atkins has recently been developing their corporate structure and culture to be better able to support clients' projects requiring a range of services from across the company. This new contract will allow Atkins to demonstrate the advantages of a 'one-stop-shop' for managed solutions to a broad-based requirement."

The statement was further emphasized by Jill Barrow, Managing Director for Atkins Education: "Atkins Education's mission is to provide management, systems and facilities services to support learning excellence nationwide and we can achieve this through the collaborative efforts of the expertise across Atkins business units. This ICT contract will allow us to demonstrate our commitment to education and learning, and also to make use of that expertise to the benefit of learners across Wales."

August 23rd, 2002