IACS maintenance to be outsourced

The new head of the Agency for Restructuring and Modernization of Agriculture (ARiMR), Jerzy Miller, has contrary to his predecessor, proposed to outsource the maintenance of the IACS system, which is to be implemented in September at a cost of EUR1 billion. The IACS system's main aim is to control EU direct subsidies for the farming sector. "The outsourcing will include practically all IT related elements of the system, such as servicing, system management, administration and server maintenance," said one of ARiMR directors. The system will be placed with external experts as early as this October. Currently, details of the system are being worked on in cooperation with Hewlett-Packard, which stands the biggest chance of winning the lucrative bid. System maintenance expenditures are estimated at over EUR 71 million for 2003 to 2005. (Puls Biznesu, p. 6) A.K.