PZU's zł. 1 billion IT contract attracts foreign interest

Insurance giant PZU has received offers from three foreign bidders interested in the zł. 1 billion contract to upgrade its IT system. According to an unofficial report in the Puls Biznesu daily, the three are Computer Sciences Corporation of the US, British company Sherwood, and a German consortium of TIA and consulting company Accenture. Domestic companies have effectively been prevented from taking part in the bid because of PZU's insistence that the updated information system is compatible with the one operating in its new strategic investor, Eureko Group. Domestic companies are not capable of implementing such a system independently, and will be restricted to a supporting role in such areas as systems integration. The Puls Biznesu report links major domestic IT sector players Prokom, Softbank and ComputerLand with the project. (Rzeczpospolita, p. 7) P.J.