Army to Shell Out $500 Million for IT

Dell and rivals HP , GTSI
and Lockheed Martin have scored a bid to provide hardware,
software and services for the U.S. Army to the tune of $500 million, the
latest in a series of large contract wins for systems vendors.

Dell spokesperson Michelle Mosmeyer said the seven-year contract is
comprised of a 36-month base period and two, 24-month option periods.

As
part of its federally funded Information Technology Enterprise Solutions
(ITES) procurement contract, the Army will purchase an indefinite quantity
of infrastructure and services, but how much from each vendor has not been
decided as of yet.

Through the ITES contract, which is a key part of the
high-profile Army Knowledge Management transformation plan geared to move
the Army’s knowledge base to the Internet, the Army plans to buy servers,
workstations, desktops, notebooks, storage systems, networking equipment,
operating systems and commercial software applications, peripherals, and
related services.

These services can include installation, equipment maintenance, site
surveys, system configuration and integration, image loading, data migration
and asset tracking.

Mosmeyer said the contract is known as ITES Functional Area-1 for Enterprise
Hardware Solutions. The Army will award ITES Functional Area-2 for
Enterprise Mission Support Services Solutions later, but how much money will
be allotted for that contract has not been made public.

“This is a great achievement for GTSI,” said Terri Allen, senior vice
president of sales at GTSI. “We are charged with providing the technology
necessary to support the Army’s goal of an enterprise-wide architecture. It
is a great responsibility and one which we are enthusiastic about
fulfilling.”

The hefty contract is the latest in a series of large contracts systems
vendors have been picking off in the last year despite a softened economy.
Monday IBM announced it would
provide hardware for Ohio State University.

Dell itself secured a three-year bid to be the primary provider for desktop
and laptop computers to healthcare provider Kaiser Permanente’s medical
offices and medical centers. During the lifecycle of that agreement, Dell
agreed to provide as many as 95,000 Dell OptiPlex desktop computers and
11,000 Latitude notebook computers, along with a suite of tailored
technology deployment services.

Still, on the customer side of the deals, Procter and Gamble’s spending
dwarfs that of the Army. After breaking
off a deal with EDS late last year, that company agreed to pay HP $3
billion for a 10-year IT outsourcing contract.

HP’s deal calls for it to manage the company’s IT infrastructure, data
center operations, desktop and end-user support, network management and some
applications development and maintenance support for P&G’s global operations
in 160 countries. Meanwhile, IBM appears poised
to get in on the P&G party.