Two relatively obscure computer companies have walked off with one of the biggest US Government contracts ever, estimated to be worth $1,000m. The award is for a three year order to supply the Department of Defense with as many as 300,000 high-powered desktop computers and related software and services. CompuAdd Corp of Austin, Texas and and Sysorex Informaiton Systems Inc of Fals Church, Virginia will share the contract known as Desktop IV. 22 companies, most of them far larger and better known, such as EDS Corp, Apple Copmuter Inc and Zenith Data Systems Corp, had bid on the lucrative project. CompuAdd’s first year share of the contract is reported to be $398m – added to CompuAdd’s estimated 1991 revenue of $600m it will vault the little known company to nearly $1,000m in sales. Shipments to the government are expected to start in the spring. Sysorex’s share for the first year was estimated to be $269m – it has previously won several Government contract contracts including a $400m Treasury Department bid earlier this year and smaller contracts for the Postal Service and the Internal Revenue Service. CompuAdd will be recruiting 100 more employees to cope with the increased demand. Last December the company won a frantic contract to supply the Pentagon with computers for the Gulf War.
