IBM Awarded Outsourcing Contract

Toronto-based MDS Inc. awarded IBM Canada Ltd. a $265 million seven-year outsourcing contract for its information technology operations. The deal closed on September 25, 2003. MDS is an international health and life sciences company. Under the deal, 78 MDS employees in North America will be transferred to IBM. The deal will enable MDS to standardize and consolidate several of its technology systems on a global basis, including e-mail systems, servers and customer help desks into one global help desk that will be operated by IBM.

IBM was represented by in-house counsel Tony Wight, and Lawrence Weiner (contracts and negotiations) and Ray Saunders. MDS was represented in-house by Peter Brent, senior vice-president, general counsel and corporate secretary, and Michael Cody, counsel; in Canada by McCarthy Tétrault LLP, with a team led by Barry Sookman and including Lori Anne Heckbert (technology), Coreen Lawton (privacy), Paul Boniferro, Trevor Lawson and Richard Nixon (labour), Greg Winfield (pensions) and Douglas Cannon, Brian Pel and Jim Warnock (tax); and by Richard Graham (international privacy) of Linklaters in London.