WIPRO TO SERVICE
SCOTTISH MPS
Wipro has won a contract to maintain the system that provides
e-mail, office software and internet facilities to members
of the Scottish Parliament, but the contract has turned into
a political issue.
Eighteen systems engineers from Bangalore-based
Wipro Technologies have been providing IT infrastructure maintenance,
development and a help-desk service for parliament's systems
for over two years under a £5 million, five-year deal.
Although the contract is small compared with the £5.4
billion that the UK public sector spent on IT last year, the
arrival of overseas IT workers in Scotland has been greeted
with suspicion.
In Scotland , Wipro Technologies has come
under intense political scrutiny. ''There have been almost
weekly questions in parliament,'' says the company's business
development director, Mr Tom McCormack. ''These range from
enquiries about whether overseas IT workers have access to
confidential information to whether IT has been responsible
for the delays in moving Parliament into its new home at Holyrood
House.''
Behind the concern of politicians is the fear that local firms
will lose business and that jobs may go abroad.
