We understand that the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) has selected Computacenter as preferred bidder for the department’s desktop infrastructure (DI) ‘tower’ contract. This follows the announcement in March that BAE SystemsDetica had been chosen as the department’s Service Integration & Management (SMI) provider. Computacenter’s contract replaces HP’s previous desktop infrastructure contract, Firecrest. The new framework contract is valued at between £65 million and £350 million (over a period up to six years). Contract signature will follow Ministerial Approval.
In our view Computacenter was always at an advantage in this competition. It was up against Fujitsu, HP and CSC at final bidder stage. Unlike the others large players shortlisted, it is not negatively perceived by the Cabinet Office as already controlling too large a proportion of the Government’s ICT infrastructure. By selecting a supplier like Computacenter, the FCO (and the Cabinet Office) has shown a desire to work with a broader range of suppliers while still choosing a player large enough to bring financial stability, a strong heritage as a supplier to large UK corporations, and a proven ability to manage complex services contracts (for more on Computacenter’s business, subscribers can read Computacenter: focus and growth).
TechMarketView estimates the public sector accounted for c20% (or £74 million) of Computacenter’s FY12 UK SITS business (plus another £15 million in the public sector via systems integrators). But much of Computacenter’s business to date has been in the local government, education and health sectors. This is a significant deal for Computacenter as it tries to grow its business in Whitehall, giving it the opportunity to evidence how it can deliver significant savings in the End User Computing space across central government (in line with its experiences in the private sector). We now wait with interest to see what decision Computacenter comes to as it contemplates the newly restructured Ministry of Justice ‘End User Computing’ tower (see MoJ publishes revised EUC tender). It is critical that new entrants into this Central Government space qualify the 'right' opportunities as each process requires a significant investment in pre-sales costs.