Nothing like kicking a firm when it is so far down that the only way is up or out, and Compagnie des Machines Bull SA got a most dispiriting Christmas present on Christmas Eve when the US General Services Administration Board of Contract Appeals snatched away the $740.3m Desktop IV US Air Force personal computer […]
Nothing like kicking a firm when it is so far down that the only way is up or out, and Compagnie des Machines Bull SA got a most dispiriting Christmas present on Christmas Eve when the US General Services Administration Board of Contract Appeals snatched away the $740.3m Desktop IV US Air Force personal computer contract away from Bull’s Buffalo Grove, Illinois-based Zenith Data Systems. The Board refused to make its reasons public until after today, Monday, because its says it needs time to delete confidential business information from its ruling. The protest suggested that the Air Force incorrectly evaluated the bids and over-estimated the ability of Zenith to deliver. Zenith only won the three-year contract to supply 300,000 computers as a result of the government’s cancelling its earlier decision to award it to CompuAdd Corp of Austin, Texas, and Sysorex Information Systems, Falls Church, Virginia. Although the US government dislikes doing business with companies owned by foreign governments, Zenith Data Systems said it was certain that its foreign ownership had no bearing on the decision. Bull in Paris said We are shocked, baffled and disappointed by the ruling. The contract had been expected to account for up to 20% of Zenith’s business over its life, and the new impasse is a major embarrassment to the US, because the contract was to have been the first to be awarded under the new no frills fast track process. Some observers now expect the tender to be scrapped altogether and replaced with a Desktop V tender. Other companies that protested the award include Apple Computer Inc, Electronic Data Systems Corp, Memorex Telex NV, International Data Products Corp and Government Technology Services Inc.
