Unisys gets Pa. data center extension

Unisys Corp. has won a five-year contract extension to continue providing outsourced data center services to Pennsylvania.

The latest extension covers 2009 to 2014, the office of Gov. Ed Rendell said. Unisys declined to provide a specific dollar value for the renewal until it completes negotiations with the state later this month. State officials did not return a call seeking the contract value in time for this story.

Under the data center agreement, Unisys manages mainframe, midrange and an array of server operations. It also monitors the wide-area network and provides service desk, technical support and disaster-recovery for mission-critical applications.

The Blue Bell, Pa., company has provided data center support to the state since 1999. The initial seven-year contract, which included a three-year option, was valued at about $500 million. The state chose to exercise the option in October 2002. That extension, which lasts until 2009, is valued at $252 million.

The extension will provide the same services at about 70 percent of the current cost while also allowing state agencies to choose different levels of service at different price points, the governor's office said.

The contract extension enables the state to continue improving the effectiveness and efficiency of state government, Rendell said in a statement. "The low prices that we were able to negotiate in this contract will allow agencies to continue to use secure data services that are necessary to run state government and better serve the people" of Pennsylvania.

Unisys ranks No. 27 on Washington Technology's 2007 Top 100 list of the largest federal government prime contractors.