£4bn Government Procurement Service IT framework contract finally awarded

Seventeen suppliers selected for four-year deal

The Government Procurement Service has finally awarded its long-awaited IT hardware framework contract to 17 major suppliers.

The framework will run for a maximum of four years and is valued at up to £4bn.

The framework is intended to help the public sector get better value for money from its purchases of commodity hardware, including desktop PCs, laptop computers, tablet computers, servers, printers and peripherals.

The winning suppliers include Academia Ltd, Akhter, Centerprise, Computacenter, Dell, Ergo, Fujitsu, HP, Insight Direct, Kelway, Lenovo, Misco, Softcat, Specialist Computer Centre, Stone, Viglen and XMA.

Lenovo and Viglen - the computer company in which Amstrad founder Lord Sugar (pictured) holds a major stake - represent surprise inclusions in the list. Such companies normally struggle in tenders against big players, such as Dell, Fujitsu and HP, according to Chris Pennell, principal analyst at Kable.

The bidding was run by the Government Procurement Service. The GPS runs multiple framework agreements for the public sector, which are a set of pre-tendered contracts with a range of suppliers from which public-sector organisations can purchase goods and services. A small commission (on average lower than 1 per cent) is collected from suppliers for each sale they make under the frameworks.