NWTC to outsource info technology By Ray Barrington News-Chronicle The information technology management at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College has been contracted out to Sungard Collegis Inc., the college has announced. The school cited cost effectiveness, the budget stability of a long-term contract, lower reliance on consultants for individual projects and more information on what other schools are doing. The move will affect 55 employees. Of those, the school said, 12 will become Collegis employees, two others will either stay with the school or join Collegis, and two others will have the opportunity to apply for management positions with Collegis. The other employees will stay with NWTC's IT department. The contract sets an upper limit of $11.18 million over the next five years, and specifies that the cost to the college will be no more than current IT costs, according to a release from NWTC. Collegis is based near Orlando, Fla. Several N WTC employees sent a letter to the college's Board of Trustees opposing the move. In the letter, obtained by The News-Chronicle, they expressed concern that after the contract is completed, Collegis could decide not to keep the employees. It also said NWTC president Jeffery Rafn had not consulted with current IT staff but did consult with officials at Chippewa Valley Technical College in Eau Claire. The IT employees also said they had been consulted by other schools who had problems with Collegis to try to implement software packages. "This is, to put it bluntly, a hell of a way to pay our taxpayers back," the letter concluded. "Are we telling (students) that we want them to pay to get a degree here, only to state that we have no confidence in their talents to support a business?"