Computacenter wins half of £120m deal

CMG Admiral takes other half of HSE contract

Computacenter has won half of a multimillion pound, 10-year government contract which it said is its "biggest to date".

Following a lengthy battle with other players in the services market, the company is sharing the £120m contract with services company CMG Admiral to provide IT and consultancy services to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) across the UK.

Under the contract the two firms' responsibilities include providing HSE's communications and website, and maintaining its hardware and software.

Named REtendering For IT, the project began earlier this month with CMG Admiral and Computacenter due to take full responsibility for the service in October after a three-month transition period.

According to the HSE, the project will help it to "improve its working practices and extend the reach of the organisation by making the best use of its staff skills".

HSE spokesman Peter Morgan said the HSE chose the two firms because of their "joint skills and knowledge of the IT area".

Colin Brown, director for the government sector at Computacenter, said the company was delighted with the win. "This is the biggest services contract that we have won in the government sector," he said, adding that Computacenter would be "working closely with CMG Admiral".

"This is a big break for us, as well as one of our first next-generation outsourcing contracts," he added.

Geoff Neville, chairman of CMG Admiral, said: "It was clear from the outset of this open tender that a partnership approach was the best way to provide HSE with a value for money service."