EDS Wins Tax Agency ContractEDS Wins Tax Agency Contract

Electronic Data Systems Corp. said Friday it won a contract potentially worth about $485 million to help British Columbia's tax agency improve collections and customer service.

Provincial Revenue Minister Rick Thorpe said the changes would save the Canadian province $382 million over the 10-year life of the contract. Thorpe said the deal would consolidate revenue collection, which is now scattered throughout the government.

EDS said it would begin work on the contract in December.

The provincial government will retain control of personal information, and no data will be stored or accessed from outside Canada, the Plano-based company said.

An EDS subsidiary will assume the financial risk of developing and putting in place new information-technology systems, the company said.

EDS is trying to repair damage from money-losing contracts signed several years ago while winning new business. The company, which reported a $153 million third-quarter loss due mostly to a charge taken on a big contract for the U.S. Navy, said contract signings in the July-September period were $3.3 billion, slightly higher than a year earlier.

The company said this month it believes it can raise contract signings 25 percent from a year ago, which would require fourth-quarter deals of more than $6 billion.