HP wins Swedish govt deal

Hewlett-Packard (HP) has signed a contract with the Swedish government to provide approximately £181m worth of hardware, including desktop PCs, portable PCs and accessories.

The agreement is part of a £452m IT contract issued by the Swedish Agency for Public Management, which is responsible for co-ordinating information and communication purchases for the public administration.

HP is one of nine IT suppliers selected for the deal, which is valid until 31 January 2005, and will supply up to 40% of the hardware to be provided.

The company won another contract with the Swedish government last year, to provide servers and storage for £116m.

In addition to price and quality considerations, HP said that it was selected because it met rigorous corporate social and environmental responsibility requirements set by the agency, which included factors such as accessibility for people with disabilities.

This is the second multimillion-pound European negotiation the company has announced this week. HP said it was nearing an outsourcing agreement with the Bank of Ireland valued at £381m.