GM is also creating a structure for ensuring that the new procedures are followed. For instance, one of Capgemini's IT roles at GM will be managing application development and integration across the automaker's business units, said Joe Kovach, a Capgemini vice president who manages the firm's GM contracts. Each vendor will have responsibility for applications at specific business units, but Capgemini will ensure that all the work follows the standards set by GM, Kovach said. The goals are to reduce cost and improve functionality for GM, he said.

The requirement that vendors cooperate on standards sometimes presented a challenge, said Jim Angers, who manages HP's business with GM. In working with other vendors, "you feel like you are sharing how you actually manage clients," Angers said. But, he added, HP and the other vendors needed to make it work "if we were going to have good transitions and great interconnects between the companies."

GM said the contracting process will continue later in the year when it awards new telecommunications contracts to replace existing ones due to expire at year's end.

The company added that the rest of the planned IT contracts will be awarded over the next five years "as a part of the natural business process," as it assesses spending needs for hardware and software purchases and the development and deployment of new systems.