34% of Western European government contracts to go to system integrators and consultants

22% of Western European government representatives told IDC that they will grow spending for new initiatives, while less than 10% of them expect to grow spending on maintenance and upgrades. Demand for external services is also expected to grow, with 28% of central government and 18% of local government executives indicating that the share of IT that they source from external vendors will grow in 2005. 34% of respondents indicated that system integrators and consultants will be the primary source of IT for governments, and they will not be the only primary source, since government executives also indicated that 30% of their software spending in 2005 will be purchased through SIs.