EDS to provide IT services and support down under

EDS Corp. will manage the technology infrastructure for the Australian Department of Agriculture, Fishery and Forestry under a $61 million (AU$96 million) contract.

The agreement calls for EDS to provide expanded information technology services across the department’s key locations and increase economic value to the Commonwealth.

Under the five-year agreement, EDS will provide desktop, server, storage and architecture services.

The U.S. company will provide help desk and service desk support to approximately 5,000 employees at the department’s 300 locations. EDS also will manage the overall storage, and IT architecture and design services in a multivendor agency environment, EDS officials said.

“This agreement will help the Australian federal government meet its business and policy objectives, and deliver better return on investment to the Australian people,” said David Caspari, managing director for Australia and New Zealand at EDS.

The contract was signed in March and made public May 21.

Hewlett Packard/EDS, of Palo Alto, Calif., ranks No. 12 on Washington Technology’s 2009 Top 100 list of the largest federal government prime contractors.