BearingPoint to keep Florida IT outsourcing job

BearingPoint Inc. has won a one-year, $1.4 million contract from the Florida State Technology to manage the state's central computer resources, state officials confirmed this week.

BearingPoint will offer support services for mainframes, databases and servers. The company will use the same staff it has been using for IT support to the Florida State Technology Office for the last 14 months, company officials said.

In addition to BearingPoint's award, Infinity Software Development Inc. of Tallahassee, Fla., won a $1.3 million contract for software support and production and quality control services, the State Technology Office said.

Eleven vendors responded to a request for quote for the work that was issued last month, said Carla Gaskin, a spokeswoman for the State Technology Office.

The award was made despite the State Technology Office's abrupt cancellation Sept. 30 of the two remaining MyFlorida Alliance IT outsourcing contracts held by McLean, Va.-based BearingPoint and Hamilton, Bermuda-based Accenture Ltd.

BearingPoint held a large contract for data center support services under the MyFlorida Alliance, while Accenture held contracts for help desk and applications management services. The help-desk contract was the first to go in August; the other two were canceled the following month.

The contracts were canceled because Florida Chief Information Officer Simone Marstiller questioned the way the MyFlorida Alliance awards were made by her predecessor.

BearingPoint officials believe the competitive award vindicates their recent outsourcing work with the state.

"The award is further validation of the good work we've done on the earlier MyFlorida Alliance contract and that our client perceives [us] as adding value at a competitive price," said Ron Salluzzo, executive vice president of BearingPoint's state and local government and education practice.