Northrop to run Indianapolis IT operations

Indianapolis-Marion County IT sourcing project

After almost 10 years with its current information technology service provider, the combined government of Indianapolis and Marion County is in the process of switching to Northrop Grumman.

Looking for enhanced technology and greater savings, officials announced this week that they have awarded the company a five-year, $46 million contract that covers on-site management, operations and support of the city and county's data center, networks, distributed computing, help desks and application services.

Officials chose Northrop Grumman over the other finalist, Unisys, "by virtue of the individualized way it crafted its solution and its willingness to explore new options," said David Mockert, interim chief information officer, during a briefing for the government's IT Board.

"Northrop Grumman prepared its bundle of services for the city/county from the inside-out," Mockert said. "It placed a higher value on and developed a deeper knowledge of the existing IT environment and appeared more flexible in comprehending and adapting to the complexities of the existing environment."

The transition from the current vendor, Systems and Computer Technology (now owned by Affiliated Computer Services), started in September, and full deployment of the Northrop Grumman solution will begin in January.