Canadian Wheat Board Enters IT Outsourcing Agreement with IBM Canada

On January 28, 2005, the Canadian Wheat Board, the farmer-controlled marketing agency for wheat and barley grown by western Canadian producers, concluded an information technology outsourcing agreement with IBM Canada Ltd. Under the agreement, IBM will provide the mainframe, data centre, desktop and application support information technology services required to support the Canadian Wheat Board’s operations. The agreement provides for IBM to deliver these services to the Canadian Wheat Board for the next seven years and is part of the Canadian Wheat Board’s ongoing efforts to provide greater value to its stakeholders through the effective utilization of information technology. The amount of the transaction is undisclosed.

The Canadian Wheat Board was represented in-house by Margaret Wiebe, senior counsel, and by Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP in Toronto with a team that included Richard Corley, Lisa Abe and Alex Ross.

IBM Canada was represented by Ari Blicker, in-house legal counsel, along with Bruce Wiebe, Lawrence Weiner and Glenn Dodge. They received support from an in-house legal team that included Leonora Hoicka (IP), Naomi Adam (privacy) and Irene Christie (human resources).