EDS wins $860M HUD contract

Electronic Data Systems Corp. won a huge Housing and Urban Development contract to provide infrastructure and telecommunications services.

The HUD Information Technology Services contract, or HITS, is worth $860 million over 10 years, if all options are exercised.

EDS competed against IBM Corp., Affiliated Computer Services Inc. and Lockheed Martin Corp., said EDS spokesman Kevin Clarke. Lockheed Martin was the incumbent contractor on the HUD Integrated Information Processing Services contract, which HITS replaces. The company won the $530 million HIIPS contract in 1990.

Under the new contract, EDS of Plano, Texas, will develop a nation-wide IT infrastructure and telecommunications service for HUD. The company will provide end-to-end IT services to 18,000 HUD users in more than 80 locations throughout the United States and its territories. Those services will include enterprise-wide data processing and management, information security, technology refresh, help desk, user support, disaster recovery, printing and distribution, local area network and wide-area network services, wireless, TV/video conferencing, web administration, and other IT services.

"This is a performance-based contract that will increase vendor accountability, which is part of President Bush's management agenda for federal agencies," said Vickers Meadows, HUD's assistant secretary for administration and chief information officer.

Meadows said that under such contracts, the department sets measurable performance standards and pays the contractor according to how well those standards are met.

EDS's teammates include AT&T Corp., Dell Inc., Force3 Inc., ITG Inc., Reliable Integration Services Inc., and Unisys Corp. EDS also has teamed with a variety of small businesses..