The municipalities of the Tampere City Region have tendered their core ICT services and selected Fujitsu Finland as their new provider. The agreement has been signed, and the transition of services from the current provider, Vivicta, will begin in stages starting in January.
In addition to Tampere, the competitively tendered ICT services will be introduced in the municipalities of Hämeenkyrö, Kangasala, Lempäälä, Nokia, Orivesi, Pirkkala, Vesilahti, and Ylöjärvi, as well as in numerous subsidiary communities. The change affects a total of 88,000 users, as in addition to municipal and subsidiary staff, the services are also used by 67,000 school pupils and students.
The aim of the tendering process was to update services to better meet the municipalities’ changing needs and to enable the flexible adoption of new services. At the same time, the municipalities decided to harmonise ICT practices in education in particular. The procurement was also driven by the expiry of the municipalities’ contract with the current service provider and the requirement under procurement legislation to put the services out to competitive tender.
– Our goal was to obtain a flexible contract model and a supplier committed to long-term cooperation and developing customer relationships in the Tampere city region. With the new agreement, we will organise core ICT services and processes in a smooth and more harmonised way than before, says Maria Nikkilä, Executive Director responsible for digitalisation and ICT management for the City of Tampere.
The procurement covered end-user support for employees, lifecycle management for approximately 55,000 workstations, server operating and capacity management services, modern cyber security services, and cloud-based storage. In addition, expert services were procured, which municipalities can order according to their needs.
The maximum value of the municipalities' joint procurement, excluding VAT, is 250 million euros, but the actual value may be lower than this. The agreement covers a broader scope than the current one, including more users and workstations as well as new services. This will increase the total costs, but the cost level in relation to the number of services and users remains close to the current level. The City of Tampere's share of the total annual costs of the services is estimated to be 60 percent on average. The final costs will depend on the actual purchases made.
This exceptionally extensive and demanding core ICT tendering process was carried out using a competitive dialogue procedure. Of the companies involved in the negotiation phase, Atea Finland Oy, CGI Suomi Oy, Elisa Oyj and Fujitsu Finland Oy submitted final bids.
Fujitsu Finland was selected on the basis of the best price–quality ratio. Its proposal combined a lower price compared to other bidders with high quality.
– Municipal customers are at the heart of Fujitsu’s strategic growth. The multi‑year cooperation beginning with the Tampere City Region is an important opportunity for us to demonstrate our commitment to developing the public sector, says Sari Sireeni‑Seirala, Fujitsu’s Head of Public Sector.
– We are eager to work collaboratively to implement solutions that enhance the quality, cyber security and reliability of ICT services in the Tampere City Region, supporting smooth everyday operations and long‑term digitalisation.
The transfer of services from the current provider Vivicta to Fujitsu will be carried out in a controlled manner by the end of June 2027 in a separate implementation project.
– We are planning the smooth and well‑managed transition of services together with the Tampere City Region and Fujitsu. Our shared goal is that the change is as seamless as possible for users and supports uninterrupted operations in the municipalities and subsidiary organisations, says Niina Yli‑Pirilä, Customer Executive at Vivicta.
Fujitsu will also take responsibility for the ICT basic services of the upper secondary schools maintained by the City of Tampere and the Tampere Vocational College Tredu. Part of Tredu’s ICT support personnel will transfer to Fujitsu, while the role of those remaining at Tredu will increasingly focus on development and coordination.
Current services will remain available to the staff of municipalities, Tredu and subsidiary organisations until Fujitsu’s services have been fully introduced.
