The US government has tapped 29 companies to be eligible for a $50bn, 10-year grab-bag of information technology contracts.

The deal, known as Alliant, is a government-wide acquisition contract that provides agencies with a pool of IT providers to choose from. It's now up to the 29 contractors to compete amongst themselves to win individual contracts. Agencies will submit orders to the Alliant program, and the vendors can bid on them. Alliant contractors can be removed or added to the list over the 10-year course.

Among the winners were big names such as AT&T, IBM, Lockheed Martin and EDS. According to the General Services Administration, the government's main purchasing arm, Alliant has been in the works for more than two years.

The Alliant contract replaces two similar contracts set to expire: Millenia and ANSWER (Applications 'N Support for Widely diverse End user Requirements - no, really.)

In December, the GSA will award a companion program for small businesses. The winners of the Alliant Small Business contract can qualify for set-aside contracts.

The companies selected for Alliant are:

• Accenture National Security Services
• Advanced Management Technology
• Alion Science and Technology
• AT&T Government Solutions
• BAE Systems Information Technology
• BearingPoint
• Booz Allen Hamilton
• CACI International
• Computer Sciences
• Dynamic Research
• EDS
• General Dynamics One Source
• Harris
• Indus
• IBM
• ITS
• L-3 Communications Titan
• Lockheed Martin Integrated Systems
• ManTech Advanced Systems International
• Modern Technologies
• NCI Information Systems
• QSS Group
• Raytheon
• RS Information Systems
• Science Applications International
• SI International
• Systems Research and Applications
• TASC (Northrop Grumman IT)
• Unisys. ®

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