In the UK, Electronic Data Systems Corp is embroiled in allegations that problems with one of its government contracts were covered up while it proceeded to negotiate another $1.5bn deal with the Inland Revenue Department, reports the Financial Times. According to staff at the Student Loans Company Ltd, they were told not to disclose details of problems they’d experienced with EDS to the department before the contact signing in 1994. Some documents obtained by Computer Weekly pointed to the fact that the Department of Education suppressed allegations about the Student Loans Company contract, some of which it has since conceded were true. Concerns over an apparent stranglehold that EDS may have on government facilities management contracts will have been exacerbated by the allegations, and the 10-year Inland Revenue contract has also raised questions of the UK government’s reliance on EDS in the past.
