Automaker Renault Awards Outsourcing Contracts Worth $789 MillionAutomaker Renault Awards Outsourcing Contracts Worth $789 Million

French automaker Renault is outsourcing the bulk of its IT operations to three major services vendors. Under deals announced Friday, Renault has awarded five-year outsourcing contracts totaling $789 million to Computer Sciences Corp., Hewlett-Packard, and Atos Origin.

Atos Origin's contract, worth $403.8 million, is the largest of the three. The Paris-based vendor will develop and manage Renault's software applications worldwide. The contract covers the maintenance of more than 2,000 applications related to auto design, manufacturing, sales, marketing, and support.

Under its $236 million contract, CSC will provide Renault with infrastructure-management services, including support for networking, midrange, and mainframe computing systems. The deal covers Renault operations in France and Spain.

HP will provide Renault with desktop systems support under a $150 million deal. The contract covers support for all of Renault's 87,000 desktop users in 26 countries and extends to PCs, workstations, and printers. Sources close to the negotiations say HP beat out IBM Global Services for the desktop deal.

Renault says the outsourcing contracts are part of an effort by the company to consolidate its IT systems and reduce costs.