Beyond.com surges on IRS deal
Shares of the Internet retailer surge more than 35 percent after the company, teaming up with Microsoft and Intellisys Technology, won a contract to deliver enterprise software to the IRS.
The three companies won a $121 million contract but privately held Intellisys will serve as the prime contractor to supply Microsoft's Windows NT, Office Professional, and other enterprise software to 130,000 IRS users nationwide.
Beyond.com rose 35.48 percent in morning trading to 23.63. The stock has traded as high as 41.31 and as low as 6.19 during the past 52 weeks. Microsoft edged higher 1.64 percent to 77.63 this morning.
"The IRS continues to dramatically improve its processes and services," said IRS departmental systems branch chief Dan McLaughlin in a statement. "We are committed to saving taxpayer dollars while we meet our objectives."
The agreement, known as the Multiple Software Acquisition Project (MSAP) could save the IRS an estimated $60 million during the life of the contract by using Beyond.com's digital delivery service to send software over the Internet for downloading rather than from CD-ROMs or disks, the companies said.