Army awards PC-3

In a move to provide the latest information technology to its users, the Army today tagged two vendors for a $300 million deal covering PCs, peripherals, office automation software and installation services.

The Army awarded the long-awaited PC-3 contract to IntelliSys Technology Corp., Fairfax, Va., and Government Technology Services Inc. PC-3 is the follow-on contract to the Army's PC-2 contract, which expired in January and was held by Vanstar (now Inacom) Government Systems and BTG Inc.

According to industry sources, although all of the bidders received special Microsoft Corp. pricing, the Army was primarily concerned with the ability of the vendors to provide worldwide support. Industry sources said GTSI bid systems from Hewlett-Packard Co., and IntelliSys offered systems from Compaq Computer Corp.

Alan Bechara, vice president and chief operating officer at Comark Federal Systems—one of the losing bidders, along with Toshiba—said, "We're obviously disappointed in their choice, and we'll find another avenue to do business with them. That's a customer that we would like to have."

Dell Computer Corp. and Dunn IDP reportedly also bid on the contract.