February 7, 2001 10:53: A CONTRACT to provide information technology services to Wycombe District Council has gone to ITNET in a deal worth £2 million over five years, from this month.

The services to be provided by the Birmingham company, which was chosen from a shortlist of five, will include the provision of desktop support, helpdesk, network infrastructure and server support.

Several council staff will transfer to ITNET, which says it will be introducing leading-edge remote monitoring technology.

Cllr Bill Jennings, chairman of the policy and resources committee at the district council, said: "ITNET was able to present a professional solution which was economically advantageous to the authority.

"Its plans for electronic service delivery are realistic and recognise the inevitable difficulties in meeting the modernising Government agenda.

"We now have a partner we can move forward with confidence and who can share in the development of the council's vision."

The latest contract is in addition to the district council's announcement last November that it is to invest £4 million over four years in ICT (Information and Communication Technology) to revolutionise the way it provides customer services.

Mr Jennings told a business breakfast strategic budget consultation at the time that the money would go towards, among other services, the introduction of document scanning, and an increased focus on customer service through a new contact system to speed up the response to public inquiries.

Steve Bramhill, IT manager at the council, said the system could be used by all customer service staff to identify a caller instantly on screen, as well as being able to update, follow up and deal with inquiries immediately.

Judy Warschauer