Jones Lang LaSalle, which has its US headquarters in Chicago, was the first firm to handle the EDS portfolio when it outsourced that responsibility just three years ago, Jim Wells, Trammell Crow principal, tells GlobeSt.com. In line with the pact, Trammell Crow has transitioned about 90 operating engineers, formerly with Jones Lang LaSalle and Milwaukee-based Johnson Controls, into its fold plus dedicated 100 Trammell Crow employees to the assignment.

Wells says this is Trammell Crow's first formal contract with EDS although they have had an informal relationship for several years. Wells tells GlobeSt.com that Jones Lang LaSalle's contract had expired.

Part of the deal calls for Trammell Crow to oversee and partner with Aramark, headquartered on Murray Hill, NJ, which handles EDS' janitorial and food service operations for all EDS facilities. Dierdre Hardister, Trammell Crow vice president in Dallas, is overseeing the EDS account. There are 50 Trammell Crow employees at EDS' corporate headquarters campus in Plano and another 50 in buildings in the 14 other states.

The EDS staff is being acclimated to a call center service that Trammell Crow uses for 97 corporate, health care and higher education clients nationwide. The amenity "helpline" for services is part of series of "processes and procedures" being implemented for the account's management, says Wells.

Under the contract, Trammell Crow also will pick up additional properties to manage if EDS holds true to form and continues a buying strategy that's been particularly active for the past year. "As their business grows, our business will grow," Wells explains. "This is a great win for the Trammell Crow Co." The EDS win came practically at the same time that Trammell Crow expanded its property and facility pact with Bank of America, which now totals about 35 million sf.

According to Hoover's Online, EDS is the largest independent systems consulting firm in the US. It had a 2000 sales growth of 3.7%, racking up in excess of $19 billion for the year. EDS and its affiliates employ 122,000 in the network.