FIRST Mutual Contracts has won a £6 million contract to supply more than 500 cars to Portskewett-based Mitel Telecom as part of an outsourcing deal. The three-year contract, which runs from this month, is the second largest outsourcing deal completed by Cardiff-based FMC, which now has a fleet of 5,500 vehicles.

The deal removes all day-to-day administration of the fleet from Mitel and instead, a dedicated team led by Sandra Warbutton will look after the fleet from FMC's offices. The deal was put together over four months and John Tumelty, FMC operations director, said: 'Although we will be taking all the on-going fleet management responsibilities away from Mitel, they will still remain the decision maker. What the contract will allow them to do is to decide all matters of vehicle policy which we will subsequently ensure are adhered to and applied effectively.'

To ensure a tight reporting system dedicated telephone lines have been installed and FMC has created a team to look after Mitel's needs. Mitel director Alan Hill said the contract provided a practical solution to the management problem of running a large fleet and enabled valuable resources to be redirected towards the company's core activity of business communications.