Computacenter loses grip on GCat

Deal extended to 25 IT competitors

Computacenter claims it is not worried by the fact that its previous lion's share of the multimillion pound government catalogue (GCat) contract has been weakened after the deal has been extended to 25 IT competitors.

The Office of Government Commerce revealed it has increased its supply base with the IT industry by extending the new GCat 2 deal to other suppliers including SCC, Tiny Computers and PC World Business Direct.

Seven categories will be covered under the new contract, including hardware, telecoms, software, maintenance, managed services, resellers and solution provision, in areas such as central and local government, police, the NHS and education. The deal, due to go live in October, could be worth as much as £500m a year.

Colin Brown, head of government business at Computacenter, said customers still have the choice.

"At the end of the day it is down to customer choice," he explained. "The other companies have only been given the licence to the GCat contract. They still have to win the business, just like we did. We have not been handed customers on a plate."