IBM has been given a 27-month contract by Enemalta and the Water Services Corporation, covering licensing and support for the utilities billing system, as well as upgrades to the IT infrastructure.
The duration of the contract takes into account the time required for a transition plan to be completed using Maltese resources.
The Government declined to reveal the value of the contract, saying that “major savings were realised in the negotiations”.
The focus since the election has been on activating meters to automatic billing
In 2007, IBM was the only bidder for the metering and billing system, which also covered the ‘smart meters’ that will eventually carry out remote readings and offer different rates for consumption at different times of the day; and tools to detect technical and non-technical losses like theft.
The €70 million agreement was eventually signed in 2009 after protracted negotiations, involving changes to the scope of the original tender. Instead of handing over the operations to IBM, it was decided to set up ARMS, which would look after customer care and billing on behalf of Enemalta and Water Services Corporation. However, IBM remained responsible for the IT system and its maintenance, under an agreement which ran out at the end of September and encompassed the provision of smart meters, the associated infrastructure, the IT infrastructure, software licences, system configuration, deployment, training and support.
The National Audit Office had raised the alarm in its supplementary report on ARMS a year ago, saying that the entity relied too heavily on IBM for system support and that no action had been taken to ensure continuity.
Following the election, the new Government decided to negotiate a new contract with IBM and set up a negotiating team in May.
As of March 2013, the Water Services Corporation had 140,000 meters and Enemalta had 200,000 meters, of which only 44,000 were smart meters. A project management team has since started taking over the smart meter rollout. “The focus since the election has been on activating meters to automatic billing. This has resulted in the number of accounts which are billed through smart meters for both electricity and water to be doubled from 44,000 in March to 88,000 in September.
“IBM is still addressing issues of outstanding deliverables under the previous contract,” a government spokesman said.
vanessa.macdonald@timesofmalta.com