Gateway wins $25M New York PC contract
The contract for monitors and desktop and notebook PCs is open to state agencies, universities local government and school districts.
New York state awarded Gateway a six-month purchase agreement to supply up to $25 million worth of desktop computers, monitors and notebook PCs to state agencies, universities, local government and school districts.
The deal is the second such agreement New York has made under its Aggregate PC Purchase bulk-buying program, which strives to provide PC systems at substantial discounts compared with their list prices.
A three-month purchase agreement earlier this year for nearly 12,000 PCs saved the state nearly $8 million, said James Dillon, New York's chief information officer. That was close to a 40 percent cut on list prices.
Instead of letting each organization buy from suppliers, New York officials pushed for sharp discounts through a volume purchase. They estimated a total demand for PCs during a certain time period and used that information to form a deal.
Gateway, Dell, Hewlett-Packard and IBM were all asked to submit proposals based on standard system configurations and New York’s expected volume of sales.
The success of the PC procurements could lead to similar bulk purchases in other information technology areas, Dillon said.
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