Did NMCI re-compete force Dell to make services play?

A lot of what I’ve written about Dell’s acquisition of Perot Systems has dealt with the importance of services in today’s government market, and the challenge of combining a services business with a product business.

One reader, who asked not to be named, sent me some thoughts on a different angle to the story.

He wrote:

"Most of the media and pundits have focused on the commercial health care market as a main driver for the purchase, which is true. But there may be more to the deal.

It goes something like this: HP bought EDS. EDS has the NMCI [Navy Marine Corps Intranet] contract where perhaps $1 billion plus of Dell equipment has been sold to the Navy.

NMCI is coming up for re-compete soon. If HP wins, they will sell their equipment into NMCI.

Dell sees the HP buy as a big threat to a large current customer and future refresh business, because every three years, you need to replace hardware.

So, Dell buys Perot as both an offensive and defensive move to perhaps compete using Perot as a prime to go against the HP/EDS threat to Dell business."

Back to me now:

I think this is a good theory. Dell has to be looking for ways to protect itself against such a substantial threat to its business.

One thing this comment stirred in my mind is how complex and multifaceted deals are of this scale.

If you are spending a few billion, you need more than one reason to make the acquisition.

You can’t have just one reason to make an acquisition of this size.

As another commenter said, "You need to make sure 1 plus 1 equals 3."