2.2 SBS told the Committee of Public Accounts that the acquisition of the NS&I business was a strategic purchase, on which it was seeking a rate of return of 8.7 per cent. SBS won the contract in competition with Electronic Data Systems (EDS). Our report on the original deal found that the final bids were close, as were the estimates of the number of employees each bidder would need to run NS&I's operational service. The main difference between the bids was that SBS was prepared to accept more risk than EDS and planned to reduce staff numbers more quickly.