HP has been removed from the shortlist of runners for a Bank of Ireland services contract.

The deal was won by HP in 2004 when it described the $600m, seven-year deal as Ireland's largest ever IT services contract.

But HP is not being considered for renewal of the contract. Instead the Bank of Ireland is considering bids from HCL and IBM.

An internal email, seen by The Register, said after a nine-month evaluation process that HP would not be considered. Instead HCL and IBM will go head-to-head for a contract, which should be awarded in the next few weeks.

Bank of Ireland staff are asked to be sensitive to HP workers who have also received the news and will be wondering what impact it will have on their own jobs.

Bank of Ireland said: "After a detailed evaluation and assessment process over the past nine months, a decision has now been taken to proceed with a shortlist of two suppliers, IBM and HCL, to the next stage of the competitive process, which is expected to be completed in the coming weeks.  As a result, Bank of Ireland will not be progressing further with HP as part of this process."

Some 500 IT staff moved from Bank of Ireland to HP when the deal was originally signed.

The deal quickly hit controversy over the departure of Michael Soden - the chief executive at the bank sacked for porn browsing. ®