Search Data Center.com is reporting that the state of Texas is requesting new proposals for its data center consolidation project. IBM won the original bid but after five years, the project is unfinished. According to the website article, the state of Texas has “publicly alleged that IBM failed to meet service-level agreements.” In response, IBM said “the state’s antiquated systems, lack of internal IT expertise and resistance among the agencies were to blame for the project’s failure.”

According to a news release from the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR), the state initiated a contract to consolidate data center operations for 27 agencies in late 2006. DIR signed the Data Center Services (DCS) contract with IBM to migrate existing systems into two consolidated data centers, to perform ongoing operations and maintenance, and to provide disaster recovery services from March 2007 through August 2014. The goals were to consolidate disparate legacy agency facilities; reduce statewide costs for services; modernize aging equipment; and increase security and disaster recovery. capability.

In November, 2010, the DIR solicited two separate, but related, Requests for Offers (RFOs): The Service Integration RFO is for the acquisition of services of Multisourcing Service Integrator (MSI); and the Service Delivery RFO is for the acquisition of five IT service delivery components: mainframe, server, data center facilities, network, and print and mail.