Northrop Grumman To Run County Computer Systems

Northrop Grumman got itself a $667 million contract from San Diego County on Tuesday to take over the region’s computer operations, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.

County officials unanimously voted for the seven-year contract and praised Va.-based Northrop Grumman’s proposal, despite concerns from several sources who said they feared more than 300 county jobs would be lost or outsourced. 

“Don’t make this decision today,” said Jerry Butkiewicz of the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council. “You are going to impact lives.  People are going to lose their jobs.  They could lose their houses.”

San Diego County’s IT director, Michael Moore, said Northrop Grumman will relocate the county’s data center to two new locations in Oklahoma and Texas.  There are currently 305 positions at the San Diego data center, and Moore said most of those employees would stay where they are.  Somewhere near 45 jobs may be shifted to the new centers, Moore said. Northrop Grumman has promised to interview the employees in those positions, and if offered a job, they’d probably have to relocate.

For more CIO coverage of San Diego County check out High Anxiety, A Rocky First Year of Transition, and You Can’t Outsource City Hall.

Also check out Bank Call Center Jobs Moved to Texas, Costa Ricafor coverage of Washington Mutual’s latest outsourcing shift.

-Al Sacco