Services firm Atos has taken responsibility for the delivery of ‘significant aspects’ of the UK’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s (NDA’s) IT services.The NDA is responsible for overseeing decommissioning plans for 19 power stations and cleaning up 19 UK nuclear power sites and long term management of nuclear waste.The move to outsourcing follows six months of testing and preparation for the handover, with IT services now managed by Atos.The five year, £140 million contract covers four separate companies in the NDA Estate– Sellafield, Magnox, National Nuclear Laboratories and Low Level Waste Repository.The contract will be governed under the direction of the  Shared Services Alliance (SSA) which is an organisation set up to manage collaborative procurements within the NDA. The goal is to deliver up to 30% savings across the contracted services.

The multi-service contract will support 18,000 end users in 30 different locations across the country and will cover 19 service towers, networking, desktops, applications and hosting services, as well as Service Integration and Management (SIAM).Project Director, Keith Gibson said: “The SSA project team, the IT teams in Atos and the four nuclear businesses have worked extremely hard to bring this complex project to the point of handover and I'd personally like to thank everyone for their hard work. This is a very significant change for all the businesses involved and we are looking forward to working with Atos. The new contract lays the groundwork for future development, with a strong focus on investment and future benefits realisation. It will reduce costs by simplifying IT support arrangements and provides a solid platform for future developments.”Ursula Morgenstern, CEO for Atos in the UK & Ireland, said: “This is an extremely important contract for Atos and we are delighted to be at the beginning of a long and mutually beneficial relationship with the NDA Estate . It has taken hard work by both Atos and the Shared Services Alliance to reach this important milestone. To complete the in-depth testing to reach this stage is proof of Atos’ ability to manage complex IT projects successfully and deliver outstanding value for money to taxpayers.”