Unisys will continue Chicago agency IT services work

Unisys Corp. will continue to provide information technology outsourcing services to the Chicago Park District under six-year contract that could be worth as much as $9.3 million.

Under the terms of the contract extension, Unisys will provide infrastructure management and support services to the district's facilities and employees throughout the city.

The contracted services include help desk support; management of local area and wide area networks; hardware support for desktop, laptop and server computers; software support and asset management.

Unisys also will continue to support the park district’s administrative software applications.

The company currently provides IT services for approximately 1,000 Chicago Park District employees in 150 locations, with more employees and sites added each year.

These managed services support a range of initiatives, from enhanced communications among park employees to providing hot spots in certain parks to give citizens access to wireless network capabilities.

The district has an option to extend the contract for an additional year at its discretion.

The current extension continues the managed services relationship that Unisys has had with the Chicago Park District since 1994.

“Unisys services have provided our employees with steadily increasing access to an advanced network and information infrastructure. This has helped us manage our recreational facilities and programs more effectively,” Steve Maris, director of IT and telecommunications for the Chicago Park District, said in a statement.

Unisys, of Blue Bell, Pa., ranks No. 26 on Washington Technology’s 2008 Top 100 list of the largest federal government prime contractors.