University of California hires India-based IT outsourcer, lays off tech workers

By Patrick Thibodeau

Affected IT workers in San Francisco are expecting to train foreign replacements

The University of California is laying off a group of IT workers at its San Francisco campus as part of a plan to move work offshore.

The layoffs will happen at the end of February, but before the final day arrives the IT employees expect to train foreign replacements from India-based IT services firm HCL. The firm is working under a university contract valued at $50 million over five years.

This layoff may have huge implications. That’s because the university’s IT services agreement with HCL can be leveraged by any institution in the 10-campus University of California system, which serves some 240,000 students and employs some 190,000 faculty and staff.

UCSF, which runs professional schools in dentistry, medicine, nursing and pharmacy as well as a medical center, has a 565-member centralized IT department.

This layoff affects 17% of UCSF’s total IT staff, broken down this way: 49 IT permanent employees will lose their jobs, along with 12 contract employees and 18 vendor contractors. This number also includes 18 vacant IT positions that won’t be filled, according to the university.

UCSF has also been relocating some IT equipment to a Dell data center in Quincy, Wash., under a separate agreement. Similar to the HCL contract, the Dell contract can also be used by other university IT departments. It has also signed a contract with security provider FireEye

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[Source]: Computer World