HC Deb 02 March 1971 vol 812 cc419-20W
Mr. Tugendhat

asked the Minister for the Civil Service whether he will make a statement about the changes which have been made in the Government policy for the procurement of computers for Government use.

Mr. David Howell

The arrangements under which computers have been purchased for use in central Government were described in the Memorandum submitted to Sub-Committee D of the Select Committee on Science and Technology on 11th May, 1970 (Session 1969–70 Minutes of Evidence, Volume 1 (H.C. 137), pp. 442–447). They may be summarised as follows:

to acquire from International Computers Ltd. (I.C.L.) large computers, and computers leading into them, using single tender procedures;

to buy smaller computers by single tender where necessary to achieve compatibility;

and in other cases to seek competitive tenders, but to allow preference in favour of any British machine provided that there was no undue price differential as compared with overseas supplies.

The Government intend to continue these arrangements with two minor changes. The first change is that in exceptional cases single tender procedure will be used to buy large as well as small machines from any manufacturer, subject to satisfactory price, performance and delivery dates, where the penalties of transferring from one manufacturer to another would he too great. The second change is that tile price preference for computers made in Britain, which has played no part in enabling British firms to win Government contracts, has been discontinued. These changes are not expected to affect the proportion of Government computer contracts awarded to I.C.L.

The policy for the procurement of computers for Government use is therefore now as follows:

  1. (1) to acquire large computers (those more powerful than Atlas) and computers leading into them by single tender action from I.C.L., subject to satisfactory price, performance and delivery dates, save in exceptional circumstances where the penalties of transferring from another manufacturer would be too great;
  2. (2) to acquire other computers by single tender action where there are reasons for seeking compatibility or flexibility, subject to the same proviso about price, performance and delivery;
  3. (3) in all other cases, including those in which the appropriate manufacturers are unable to meet the conditions specified in (1) and (2), to seek competitive tenders, including so far as possible at least one offering a system manufactured in the United Kingdom and to award the contract strictly on the merits of the evaluation.