Computacenter may lose National Power contract

IT outsourcing company, Computacenter is in danger of being ditched by National Power, as the utility company seeks to widen the scope of its outsourced services.

National Power is seeking to replace Computacenter with a company who can offer a wider maintenance programme. Initial tender criteria for applicants include an annual turnover of not less than £30m.

Richard Kirby, senior buyer at National Power, said: "Obviously Computacenter can be in the running again but we are looking for a much bigger service and it will have to be competitively priced for us to look at it."

The tender forms part of National Power's IT shake-up. It recently replaced all 4,000 of its Dell and Digital PCs with Hewlett-Packard machines.

The utility has issued a tender for a service provider to manage its IT infrastructure for the next two years. The contract, due to begin on 1 April next year, will for the first time cover the IT needs of the company's entire operations. This will include the supply of hardware and software, and management of resellers, manufacturers, existing service contracts and the supply chain.

Computacenter currently manages National Power's installation and stock holding divisions, but the contract expires at the end of the year.
Kirby said: "We are outsourcing some parts at the moment but we will now outsource the IT division in its entirety. The main reasons for this is that the company has decreased staff numbers so it needs to get more added-value services for the company rather than worrying about IT."