NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A technology services company that boasts 6,000 worldwide clients will establish a facility in downtown New Orleans and plans to hire about 2,000 people over five years, state and city officials said Monday.
Gov. John Bel Edwards called the decision by Virginia-based DXC Technology to locate facilities in New Orleans a historic economic development for Louisiana. Mayor Mitch Landrieu called it a “game changer” in the city’s drive to diversify its economy.
“You are witnessing a transformational moment in the history of the city of New Orleans,” Landrieu said.
Landrieu, Edwards and DXC executive vice president Stephen Hilton announced the plans at a news conference at the Superdome. Officials there said Louisiana beat out 30 other states for the chance to host a “digital transformation center” - where the company will provide services to help clients adapt to rapidly changing digital technology.
The state economic development agency said incentives to land the company included nearly $19 million in grants payable over five years. It also will provide $25 million directly to Louisiana colleges for faculty and instruction that will support DXC.
“We will bring in graduate-level employees - as well as skilled professionals from outside - but we’ll bring them in with skills already tuned to serve us,” Hilton said.
DXC also is expected to take advantage of payroll tax rebates through the Louisiana Quality Jobs Program, which, depending on how many people are hired, could mean up to $57 million to the company over 10 years.
“DXC will hire 300 IT and business enterprise professionals during 2018, then ramp up to 2,000 jobs over five years and an annual payroll exceeding $133 million by 2025,” the state said in a news release.
The company was created earlier this year when Hewlett Packard Enterprise completed the spinoff of its Enterprise Services business, which merged with Computer Sciences Corporation. Hilton said the facility planned for New Orleans will be the largest digital transformation center it has built.
“It will be a blueprint, I believe, of how we transform DXC’s workforce and how we embrace some of the new technologies,” Hilton said.
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