Specialist Computer Centre (SCC), the desktop management division of Specialist Computer Holdings (SCH), has won a five-year, £390m contract with Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC).

Under the terms of the agreement, SCC, which is pushing for pole position in the corporate desktop arena, will provide a range of products and services for CSC's UK clients. These include BAE Systems, Du Pont, AMP, JP Morgan and Bhs. The previous incumbent was rival reseller Computacenter.

According to a source close to SCC, this is a "major win" for the company and had been in the pipeline since November. The source added that the contract will see between 300 and 400 technicians working on the project over the next five years.

Peter Rigby, chief executive of SCC, said the company was "delighted" to be working in partnership with "one of the world's leading consulting and IT services firms. We are pleased by the confidence CSC has placed in our ability to supply products and services to their UK client base."

Guy Hains, chief executive of CSC, said the firm was looking to deploy resources in the most "efficient and effective" way possible, and SCC met the company's standards.

SCH recently augmented its desktop-management offering following the purchase of Compelsource, the desktop division of reseller Compel.

Analyst group Ovum Holway said that the contract was the "second biggest [supply contract] in the UK".

"This really shows that SCC, which for so long has put the by-line 'ranked number two in the UK' in its releases, might be at last giving the number-one [Computacenter] a real run for its money," the firm said.

But the contract has been downplayed by Computacenter, which claimed that the figures are inaccurate and that it hasn't 'lost the contract'. Computacenter is still working with CSC, a representative claimed, but it is no longer the "sole supplier" of services and products.