French company Group Bull has won a £40m contract to develop and manage the IT systems of Barnsley MBC.

The company is still negotiating the final details of the deal with the council, but the contract is worth an initial £40m, and could grow to more than £70m over the next 10 years. A joint venture company will be created under the deal to manage the council's IT system. Chief executive, Phil Coppard, said, ‘Barnsley and Bull will work closely together to manage the new organisation which will deliver a more cost-effective, reliable, secure, responsive and robust ICT infrastructure to support delivery of all of the council's services.' Group Bull announced last week that revenue for the first quarter of 2006 was up 0.3% on last year, to £178.5m. The company has worked on projects with government departments and councils around the world, including France's Aquitaine and Bouches-du-Rhone regional councils. Bull is also involved in a £10m programme to introduce online learning tools into Scottish schools.