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UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549


FORM 10-K

     
þ
  ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
 
    For The Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2003
 
o
  TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
 
    For the Transition Period From           to


Commission File Number 0-22495

PEROT SYSTEMS CORPORATION

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in its Charter)
     
Delaware   75-2230700
(State of Incorporation)   (I.R.S. Employer
Identification No.)
 
2300 WEST PLANO PARKWAY
PLANO, TEXAS
  75075
(Address of Principal Executive Offices)   (Zip Code)

(Registrant’s Telephone Number)

(972) 577-0000

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

     
Title of Each Class Name of Each Exchange On Which Registered


Class A Common Stock   New York Stock Exchange
Par Value $0.01 per share
   

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

Preferred Stock Purchase Rights

     Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    Yes þ         No o

     Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K.    þ

     Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an accelerated filer (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act).    Yes þ         No o

     As of June 30, 2003, the aggregate market value of the voting and non-voting common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant, based upon the closing sales price for the registrant’s common stock as reported on the New York Stock Exchange, was approximately $851,163,813 (calculated by excluding shares owned beneficially by directors and officers).

     Number of shares of registrant’s common stock outstanding as of February 27, 2004: 113,254,221

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

     The following documents (or parts thereof) are incorporated by reference into the following parts of this Form 10-K: certain information required in Part III of this Form 10-K is incorporated from the registrant’s Proxy Statement for its 2004 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which is expected to be filed not later than 120 days after the registrant’s fiscal year ended December 31, 2003.


FORM 10-K

For the Year Ended December 31, 2003

INDEX

             
 PART I
   Business     1  
   Properties     17  
   Legal Proceedings     17  
   Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders     18  
 
 PART II
   Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters, and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities     19  
   Selected Financial Data     20  
   Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations     21  
   Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk     35  
   Financial Statements and Supplementary Data     36  
   Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure     37  
   Controls and Procedures     37  
 
 PART III
   Directors and Executive Officers of the Registrant     37  
   Executive Compensation     38  
   Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters     38  
   Certain Relationships and Related Transactions     38  
   Principal Accountant Fees and Services     39  
 
 PART IV
   Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules, and Reports on Form 8-K     40  
 Signatures     44  
 Consent of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
 Rule 13a-14 Certification of President and CEO
 Rule 13a-14 Certification of VP and CFO
 Section 1350 Certification of President and CEO
 Section 1350 Certification of VP and CFO
 Schedule II - Valuation and Qualifying Agreement


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PART I

      This report contains forward-looking statements. These statements relate to future events or our future financial performance. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “could,” “forecasts,” “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “potential,” or “continue” or the negative of such terms and other comparable terminology. These statements are only predictions. Actual events or results may differ materially. In evaluating these statements, you should specifically consider various factors, including the risks outlined below under the caption “Risk Factors.” These risk factors describe reasons why our actual results may differ materially from any forward-looking statement. We do not undertake to update any forward-looking statement.

 
Item 1. Business

Overview

      Perot Systems Corporation is a worldwide provider of information technology (commonly referred to as IT) services and business solutions to a broad range of customers. We offer our customers integrated solutions designed around their specific business objectives, chosen from a breadth of services, including technology outsourcing, business process outsourcing, development and integration of systems and applications, and business and technology consulting services.

      With this approach, our customers benefit from integrated service offerings that help synchronize their strategy, systems, and infrastructure. As a result, we help our customers achieve their business objectives, whether those objectives are to accelerate growth, streamline operations, or enhance customer service capabilities.

      Our customers may contract with us for any one or more of our services, which fall into the following categories:

  •  IT outsourcing services — includes multi-year contracts in which we assume operational responsibility for various aspects of our customers’ businesses, including application systems outsourcing, technology infrastructure outsourcing (including mainframe and network support services, maintenance services and helpdesk services), and back office outsourcing. We typically hire a significant portion of the customers’ staff that has supported these functions. We then apply our expertise and operating methodologies to increase the efficiency of the operations, which usually results in increased operational quality at a lower cost. Our IT outsourcing contracts are priced using a variety of mechanisms, including level-of-effort, direct costs plus a fee (which may be either a fixed amount or a percentage of direct costs incurred), fixed-price, unit price, and risk/reward. Depending on a customer’s business requirements and the pricing structure of the contract, the cash flows from a contract can vary significantly during a contract’s term. With fixed-price contracts or when an upfront payment is required to purchase assets, an IT outsourcing contract will typically produce less cash flow at the beginning of the contract with significantly more cash flow generated as efficiencies are realized later in the term. With a cost plus contract, the cash flows tend to be relatively consistent over the term of the contract.
 
  •  Business process services — includes services such as claims processing, revenue cycle management, travel agent commission settlement, and engineering services, which we offer on a stand-alone basis. We classify our Business Process Services in three categories: transaction processing services, back-office services, and professional services related to non-technical functions.
 
  •  Consulting services — includes services such as application development and maintenance, system design and implementation services, application systems migration and testing, and management consulting and IT strategy services, which we offer to customers typically on a short-term basis.

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      Our contracts utilize a wide variety of pricing mechanisms, used to meet customer business requirements. In determining how to price a contract, we consider the delivery, credit and pricing risk of a business relationship. For the year ended December 31, 2003:

  •  Approximately 33% of our revenue is from fixed price contracts where our customers pay us a set amount for contracted services. For some of these fixed price contracts, the price will be set so that the customer realizes an immediate savings in relation to their current expense for an operation we are assuming. On contracts of this nature, our profitability generally increases over the term of the contract as we become more efficient. The timeframe it takes for us to realize these efficiencies can range from a few months to a few years, depending on the complexity of the operation. We have experienced a substantial increase in our fixed price contract revenue during the past three years.
 
  •  Approximately 30% of our revenue is from cost plus contracts where our billings are based in part on the amount of expense we incur in providing services to a customer.
 
  •  Approximately 26% of our revenue is from time and materials contracts where our billings are based on time measurements such as hours, days or months and an agreed upon rate. In some cases, the rate the customer pays for a unit of time can vary over the term of a contract, which may result in the customer realizing immediate savings at the beginning of a contract.
 
  •  Approximately 11% of our revenue is from per-unit pricing where we bill our customers based upon the volume of technology or business units used at the unit rate specified. In some contracts, the per-unit prices may vary over the term of the contract, which may result in the customer realizing immediate savings at the beginning of a contract.

      We also utilize other pricing mechanisms, including license fees and risk/reward relationships where we participate in the benefit associated with delivering a certain outcome.

      We offer our services under three primary lines of business — IT Solutions, Government Services and Consulting. We consider these three lines of business to be reportable segments and include financial information and disclosures about these reportable segments in our consolidated financial statements. You can find this financial information in Note 13, “Segment and Certain Geographic Data,” of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements below. We routinely evaluate the historical performance of and growth prospects for various areas of our business, including our lines of business, vertical industry groups, and service offerings. Based on a quantitative and qualitative analysis of varying factors, we may increase or decrease the amount of ongoing investment in each of these business areas, make acquisitions that strengthen our market position, or divest, exit, or downsize aspects of a business area. During the past four years, we have used our acquisition program to strengthen our business in the healthcare market, consulting market (primarily in India), and to expand into the government market. At the same time, we have divested, or exited, certain service offerings and joint ventures that did not meet our criteria for continued investment.

IT Solutions

      IT Solutions, our largest line of business, provides services to our customers primarily under long-term contracts in strategic relationships. These services include technology and business process services, as well as industry domain-based, short-term project and consulting services. Within IT Solutions, we face the market through our four vertical industry groups — Healthcare, Financial Services, Industrial Services and Strategic Markets. Supporting these vertical industry groups is our Global Infrastructure Services group, the delivery organization for our technology outsourcing services and our network and system operations services.

 
Healthcare

      Our Healthcare group, which represented 45% of our total revenue for 2003 and 55% of revenue for the IT Solutions line of business, provides technology and business process services in four industry markets:

  •  Providers — including integrated health systems, free standing hospitals, and physician practices;

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  •  Payers — including national insurers, Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans, and regional managed care organizations;
 
  •  Life Sciences — including research-based pharmaceutical and contract research companies; and
 
  •  Healthcare Supply Chain — including medical/surgical suppliers and distributors.

      Services that cross all markets include Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act compliance and remediation consulting, and full and unbundled IT outsourcing. In addition, our Healthcare group provides numerous services and solutions tailored to each market.

      For customers in the provider market, we offer revenue cycle solutions, clinical solutions, health information management, Digital Access, and ERP solution. Combined, these services are targeted to improve quality outcomes and patient safety, increase cash, and improve hospital efficiency and cost control.

      For our payer customers, we offer our Digital Health PlanTM application suite, which provides an integrated set of Web-based self-service applications. In addition, we provide claims processing outsourcing and act as an application service provider for payer enterprise applications. We also offer DIAMOND® 950, which manages more than 8 million members in a variety of payer risk settings. In addition, we provide a range of business and IT strategy, tactical consulting and software development services to companies in this market. Combined, these services are targeted to increase back office efficiency, and improve consumer satisfaction.

      For life science customers, we offer management consulting, and IT strategic planning and outsourcing services.

      For customers in the healthcare supply chain market, we offer technology outsourcing services.

 
Financial Services

      Our Financial Services group, which represented 19% of our total revenue for 2003, focuses on providing technology solutions to customers in the financial markets, banking and insurance sectors. The technology solutions we provide include application development and management services on both an on-shore and offshore basis, computer and processing systems services, desktop services, outsourcing and applications services management.

      The majority of our revenue for this group comes from our contract with UBS AG, which accounted for 85% of the revenue for our Financial Services group in 2003. Under our agreement with UBS, we provide IT services to UBS Investment Bank, the investment banking division of UBS, as well as other business units of UBS. For UBS, our services consist primarily of technology infrastructure-related services such as outsourcing, customer support, and market data services.

 
Industrial Services

      Our Industrial Services group, which represented 8% of our total revenue for 2003, focuses on providing business process and technology services primarily for customers in the engineering and construction and automotive markets.

      For the engineering and construction market, we provide solutions that help engineering firms as well as commercial and residential construction firms lower overhead cost, manage project risk, and increase return on assets. We provide these benefits to our customers primarily by applying our expertise in information technology and business processes to all aspects of their business, including the consolidation and integration of technology operations and the implementation of new technology to increase efficiency of their IT infrastructure.

      For the automotive market, we provide services primarily to automotive manufacturers and suppliers to these manufacturers. Our services include business and technology solutions that improve the efficiencies of critical processes, including product design, supply chain execution, warranty systems, collaborative commerce, and manufacturing plant floor processes.

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      We also offer services to a limited customer base in other markets, including the consumer packaged goods market. These services include supply chain management and cost reduction, order processing management and support and customer relationship management.

 
Strategic Markets

      Our Strategic Markets group, which represented 9% of our total revenue for 2003, focuses on the maintenance and future development of a selected set of vertical industry markets. By utilizing a single delivery and operations unit that supports the entire group, we are able to optimize our delivery capability and concentrate our resources on building industry expertise and scale.

      The majority of our revenue in the Strategic Markets group comes from customers in the travel and transportation industries, including hotel, food service, vehicle rental, and cargo companies. We also serve a limited number of customers in the communications and energy industries. Our solutions for these markets are focused on solving business critical issues with technology solutions, including IT outsourcing, business process services and application management.

 
Global Infrastructure Services

      Our Global Infrastructure Services group is responsible for defining the technology strategies for our IT Solutions customers and us. This group identifies new technology offerings and innovations that deliver value to our customers. It manages, updates and maintains our technology infrastructure including networks, data centers, help desks, mainframes, servers, storage, and workspace computing. It also provides senior technology consultants to assist our customers with more complex technology transformations. It manages, resolves and documents problems in our customers’ computing environments. The group also provides comprehensive monitoring, planning, and safeguarding of information technology systems safeguarding against intrusion by monitoring system and network status, collecting and analyzing data regarding system and network performance, and applying appropriate corrective action. All of these activities are either performed at customer facilities or delivered through centralized data processing centers that we maintain.

Government Services

      We formed Perot Systems Government Services in July of 2002 through the acquisition of ADI Technology Corporation and then expanded it in February 2003 through the acquisition of Soza & Company, Ltd. This line of business provides consulting and technology-based business process solutions for the Department of Defense, law enforcement agencies, and other governmental agencies.

      We provide engineering and technical services predominantly to organizations with stringent quality, safety, technical, engineering and regulatory requirements. Our services include the direct support of engineering, safety, quality assurance, logistics, environmental solutions, financial management and program management for the United States Navy ships and nuclear-powered submarines.

      We provide management consulting services, information technology and infrastructure support, application design and development, government financial services, business process outsourcing, and outreach, media and communications services to federal agencies such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Department of Justice, National Institutes of Health, Environmental Protection Agency, national intelligence agencies and U.S. Department of Energy among others.

      Our service offerings include business process management; enterprise solutions, environmental consulting, financial services, information technology, infrastructure management, management consulting, marine engineering, and ship maintenance and technology consulting.

      Despite the fact that a number of government projects for which we serve as a contractor or subcontractor are planned as multi-year projects, the U.S. government normally funds these projects on an annual or more frequent basis. Generally, the government has the right to change the scope of, or terminate, these projects at its convenience. The termination or a major reduction in the scope of a major government project could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

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      U.S. government entities audit our contract costs, including allocated indirect costs, or conduct inquiries and investigations of our business practices with respect to our government contracts. If the government finds that we improperly charged any costs to a contract, the costs are not reimbursable or, if already reimbursed, the cost must be refunded to the government. If the government discovers improper or illegal activities in the course of audits or investigations, the contractor may be subject to various civil and criminal penalties and administrative sanctions, which may include termination of contracts, forfeiture of profits, suspension of payments, fines and suspensions or debarment from doing business with the U.S. government. These government remedies could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

Consulting

      Our Consulting line of business includes Perot Systems TSI B.V., Perot Systems Solutions Consulting, our Global Software Services group, and a group of management consultants. This line of business provides our customers high-value and repeatable services related to business and technical expertise and the design and implementation of business and software solutions, primarily under short-term contracts related to specific projects.

 
Perot Systems TSI

      On December 19, 2003, we acquired our joint venture partner’s interest in HCL Perot Systems and changed its name to Perot Systems TSI B.V. Perot Systems TSI is an IT services firm specializing in application development and maintenance, including the development and maintenance of custom and packaged application software for customers, and application systems migration and testing, which includes the migration of applications from legacy environments to current technology, as well as performing quality assurance functions on custom applications. UBS is Perot Systems TSI’s largest customer.

 
Perot Systems Solutions Consulting

      Perot Systems Solutions Consulting provides services ranging from strategy through full implementation of software solutions. These solutions include enterprise resource planning, supply chain management, eBusiness, customer relationship management and related process and technology solutions. We partner with leading packaged software providers including SAP, PeopleSoft, and Oracle. Our focus is on execution and customer satisfaction, which we accomplish with small, well-integrated teams that work more collaboratively with the customer team.

 
Global Software Services

      Our Global Software Services group optimizes the application services delivery options for our customers by utilizing the proper mix of delivery resources, architectures, methodologies, and repeatable processes. We support the entire life cycle of software services. Our service offerings include application architecture; package application selection and implementation; design, development, implementation, and maintenance of applications; as well as systems integration services. These services are delivered through a combination of teams that leverage our expertise in project management and software development, primarily through The Technical Resource Connection delivery unit.

Perot Systems Associates

      The markets for IT personnel and business integration professionals are intensely competitive. A key part of our business strategy is the hiring, training and retaining of highly motivated personnel with strong character and leadership traits. We believe that employing associates with such traits is — and will continue to be — an integral factor in differentiating us from our competitors in the IT industry. In seeking such associates, we screen candidates for employment through a rigorous interview process. In addition to competitive salaries, we distribute cash bonuses that are paid promptly to reward excellent performance, and we have an annual incentive plan based on our performance in relation to our business and financial targets. We also seek to align

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the interests of our associates with those of our stockholders by compensating outstanding performance with stock option awards, which we believe fosters loyalty and commitment to our goals.

      As of December 31, 2003, we employed approximately 13,500 associates. A limited number of these associates located in the United States are currently employed under an agreement with a collective bargaining unit. In foreign countries, our associates are generally members of work councils and have worker representatives. We believe that our relations with our associates are good.

UBS Agreements

      In January 1996, we entered into a series of agreements to form a strategic relationship with Swiss Bank Corporation, one of the predecessors of UBS AG. This relationship involves a master operating agreement, a long-term information technology services agreement and a master project agreement. Our agreements with UBS also provided for the sale to UBS of our stock and options. We provide a substantial majority of the services for UBS under the agreements described below. Perot Systems TSI has entered into several contractual relationships with UBS, which are not discussed below.

 
Master Operating Agreement

      The Amended & Restated Master Operating Agreement, dated as of January 1, 1997, as amended on September 15, 2000, between us and UBS, contains the standard terms and conditions that apply to all agreements (except for the agreements between Perot Systems TSI and UBS) pursuant to which we provide operational management services and related information technology services to UBS and its affiliates. We have one IT Services agreement subject to the Master Operating Agreement under which we provide services to UBS Warburg, the investment banking division of UBS, and other business units of UBS. The Master Operating Agreement has an indefinite term; however, it may be terminated by either party after December 31, 2008 upon sixty days notice and prior to that date by mutual consent of the parties. In addition, upon certain changes in circumstance, which impact our revenue by an increase or decrease of fifty percent or more under our IT Services Agreement, the Master Operating Agreement requires good faith renegotiations of the terms of our relationship with UBS. We may terminate the Master Operating Agreement and our IT Services Agreement for cause, nonpayment by UBS, insolvency or bankruptcy of UBS, or certain cross-defaults (which may occur upon termination of another agreement between us and UBS). UBS may terminate the Master Operating Agreement and our IT Services Agreement for cause, our insolvency or bankruptcy, a change in control of us, our failure to continue to generally provide IT services, upon certain significant events and acquisitions of UBS, our noncompliance with UBS’s security procedures, certain cross-defaults (which may occur upon termination of another agreement between us and UBS, except for agreements between TSI and UBS), and upon certain recoveries by UBS and its affiliates for our gross negligence or willful misconduct for which we do not agree to increase the contractual limit on our liability to UBS and its affiliates. Compensation, pricing, and costs are addressed in our IT Services Agreement.

 
IT Services Agreement

      We provide services to UBS Warburg and other UBS business units under the IT Services Agreement, which is formally known as the Second Amended and Restated Agreement for EPI Operational Management Services dated June 28, 1998, and as amended as of September 15, 2000. The IT Services Agreement requires that UBS obtain from us UBS Warburg’s requirements for the operational management of its technology resources (including mainframes, desktops, and voice and data networks), excluding hardware and proprietary software applications development and general network services. The term of the IT Services Agreement is 10 years, which began January 1, 1997. Our charges for services provided under the IT Services Agreement are generally based on reimbursement of all costs, other than corporate overhead, we incur in the performance of services for UBS Warburg. In addition, we receive a fixed annual fee, subject to bonuses and penalties of up to 13% of such fee based on our performance. The IT Services Agreement provides that UBS will determine any bonus or penalty based on a good faith assessment of our performance as measured using many objective and subjective criteria, including service quality, product delivery, business user satisfaction, cost effectiveness, and corporate level support.

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      We earned approximately 16.6% and 18.7% of our revenue in connection with services performed on behalf of UBS and its affiliates for 2003 and 2002, respectively.

 
Project Services Agreement

      Pursuant to the Master Project Agreement dated January 1, 1996, which establishes the standard terms and conditions of projects between UBS and us, we undertake specific projects for UBS. This Project Services Agreement commenced on January 1, 1996 and may be terminated only by mutual agreement between UBS and us until January 1, 2021, when either party by giving sixty days notice may unilaterally terminate the Project Services Agreement. Each separate project under the Project Services Agreement requires a separate project agreement to be executed and may contain a separate pricing methodology based on time and materials, fixed units or a fixed price, and may include a bonus mechanism based on cost savings, performance, deliverables achievement, or any other agreed mechanism. The default pricing mechanism is based on our costs plus 26.5% with a possible bonus of up to 50%.

 
Equity Interests

      Under the Amended and Restated PSC Stock Option and Purchase Agreement, we sold UBS 100,000 shares of our Class B Common Stock for $3.65 a share and 7,234,320 options to purchase shares of Class B Common Stock for $1.125 an option. Shares of the Class B Common Stock are convertible, on a share for share basis, into our Class A Common Stock for the purpose of sales to non-affiliates of UBS. UBS can exercise these options at any time for $3.65 a share, subject to United States bank regulatory limits on UBS’s shareholdings. UBS exercised options to purchase 700,008, 3,391,680, 850,000 and 834,320 shares of Class B Common Stock in 2003, 2002, 1999 and 1998, respectively. In addition to other limits, UBS and its employees may not own a number of shares of Class B Common Stock in excess of 10% of the number of shares of outstanding Common Stock. Once the underlying shares of Class B Common Stock vest, the corresponding UBS options are void unless UBS exercises those options within five years of such vesting. This five-year period is tolled at any time when bank regulatory limits prohibit UBS from acquiring the shares.

      Beginning on January 1, 1997, the shares of our Class B Common Stock subject to the UBS Options vested at a rate of 63,906 shares per month until January 1, 2002. The remaining shares vest at a rate of 58,334 per month until the IT Services Agreement terminates. Upon termination of the IT Services Agreement, we have the right to buy back any previously acquired unvested shares of our Class B Common Stock for the original purchase price of $3.65 per share. The UBS Options with respect to unvested shares of our Class B Common Stock would become void upon such a termination.

      UBS cannot transfer these options. Subject to exceptions relating to transfers to UBS affiliates and transfers in connection with widely dispersed offerings or transactions that comply with Rule 144 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, UBS must first offer its shares to us before transferring any shares of our Class B Common Stock. UBS converted 1,050,012 shares of Class B Common Stock to shares of Class A Common Stock in 2003. Since the beginning of the agreement, UBS has converted 2,834,332 shares of Class B Common Stock to shares of Class A Common Stock.

Competition

      We operate in extremely competitive markets, and the technology required to meet our customers’ needs changes. In all of our segments we frequently compete with companies that have greater financial resources; more technical, sales, and marketing capacity; and larger customer bases than we do. Because many of the factors on which we compete, as discussed below, are outside of our control, we cannot be sure that we will be successful in the markets in which we compete. If we fail to compete successfully against our competitors, our business, financial condition, and results of operations will be materially and adversely affected.

 
IT Solutions

      Our IT Solutions segment competes with a number of different information technology service providers depending upon the region, country, and/or market we are addressing. Some of our more frequent competitors

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include: Accenture Ltd., Affiliated Computer Services, Inc., Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, CGI Group, Inc., Computer Sciences Corporation, Electronic Data Systems Corporation, Hewlett Packard Company, IBM Global Services (a division of International Business Machines Corporation), McKesson Corporation, and Siemens Business Services, Inc. As we enter new markets, we expect to encounter additional competitors. Our IT Solutions segment competes on the basis of a number of factors, including the attractiveness and breadth of the business strategy and services that we offer, pricing, technological innovation, quality of service, ability to invest in or acquire assets of potential customers, and our scale in certain industries. In addition, we frequently compete with our customers’ own internal information technology capability, which may constitute a fixed cost for our customer. This may increase pricing pressure on us.
 
Government Services

      Our Government Services segment competes with a number of different information technology service providers depending upon the federal agency or department as well as the market we are addressing. Some of our more frequent competitors include: Accenture Ltd., Affiliated Computer Services, Inc., Anteon International Corporation, BearingPoint, Inc., Booz-Allen and Hamilton, CACI International, Inc., Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, Computer Sciences Corporation, Electronic Data Systems Corporation, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin Corporation, Northrop Grumman Corporation, Science Applications International Corporation, SRA International, and Unisys Corporation. We compete on the basis of a number of factors, including the attractiveness and breadth of the business strategy and professional services that we offer, pricing, technological innovation and quality of service. We must frequently compete in federal and defense programs with declining budgets, which creates pressure to lower our prices.

 
Consulting

      Our Consulting segment competes with a number of different consulting practices including large consulting firms such as Accenture Ltd., BearingPoint, Inc., Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation, Computer Sciences Corporation, and Wipro Limited; smaller consulting firms with industry expertise in areas such as healthcare or financial services, and the consulting divisions of large systems integrators and IT services providers. We compete on many factors, including price, industry expertise, our process methodologies and intellectual property, and our past successes in executing assignments. The market for consulting services is affected by an oversupply of consulting talent, both domestically and offshore, which results in downward price pressure for our services. Emerging offshore development capacity in countries such as India and China is also increasing the degree of competition for our consulting services generally and for our software development services in particular.

Financial Information About Foreign and Domestic Operations

      See Note 13, “Segment and Certain Geographic Data,” to the Consolidated Financial Statements included elsewhere in this report.

Intellectual Property

      While we attempt to retain intellectual property rights arising from customer engagements, our customers often have the contractual right to such intellectual property. We rely on a combination of nondisclosure and other contractual arrangements and trade secret, copyright, and trademark laws to protect our proprietary rights and the proprietary rights of third parties from whom we license intellectual property. We enter into confidentiality agreements with our associates and limit distribution of proprietary information. There can be no assurance that the steps we take in this regard will be adequate to deter misappropriation of proprietary information or that we will be able to detect unauthorized use and take appropriate steps to enforce our intellectual property rights.

      We license the right to use the names “Perot Systems” and “Perot” in our current and future businesses, products, or services from the Perot Systems Family Corporation and Ross Perot, our Chairman. The license is a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, non-transferable license. We may also sublicense our rights to the

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Perot name to some of our affiliates. Under the license agreement, either party may, in its sole discretion, terminate the license at any time, with or without cause and without penalty, by giving the other party written notice of such termination. Upon termination by either party, we must discontinue all use of the Perot name within one year following notice of termination. The termination of this license agreement could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations. Except for the license of our name, we do not believe that any particular copyright, trademark, or group of copyrights and trademarks is of material importance to our business taken as a whole.

Risk Factors

      An investment in our Class A common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the following risk factors in evaluating an investment in our common stock. The risks described below are not the only ones that we face. Additional risks that we do not yet know of or that we currently think are immaterial may also impair our business operations. If any of the following risks actually occurs, our business, financial condition, or results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. In such case, the trading price of our Class A common stock could decline, and you may lose all or part of your investment. You should also refer to the other information set forth in this report, including our Consolidated Financial Statements and the related notes.

 
Our contract with UBS (our largest customer) ends in January 2007 and we may renegotiate its term before then, either of which events could result in lower revenues or profits

      Our largest customer is UBS. During 2003, our UBS relationship generated $242.0 million or 16.6% of our revenue, which is a decline of $7.8 million from 2002 revenue of $249.8 million. We expect the trend of declining revenue from UBS to continue during 2004.

      The agreement with UBS that covers most of our business with UBS entitles us to recover our costs plus an annual fixed fee, with a bonus or penalty that can cause this annual fee to vary up or down by as much as 13%, depending on our level of performance as determined by UBS. Additionally and from time-to-time, we provide additional services to UBS for which we may be paid on a time and materials basis. As a result, the revenue and gross profit that we derive from our UBS relationship depends upon the level of services we perform, which may vary from period to period. Our gross margin from UBS ranged from 17.0% to 20.7% for the years ended December 31, 2001, 2002 and 2003.

      The agreement under which we provide most of our services to UBS expires on January 1, 2007. The agreement may end prior to January 1, 2007, or we may provide services to UBS after the agreement expires. If we provide services to UBS after this contract expires, we expect the scope of services we provide and the terms and conditions by which we provide them would change materially. It is possible that a contract renegotiation would affect the terms of our relationship before the expiration of the contract, including terms related to the contract’s expiration date, pricing of services and scope of services. The end of this agreement or a material change in its terms would likely have a material adverse effect on our revenues and profits. In addition, it is unlikely that we could proportionately reduce our costs and overhead in the short or medium term compared to any reduction in our revenue and gross profit from this contract. Therefore, we expect that any termination of this agreement, or any substantial change in its terms, would have a disproportionately large effect on our profitability compared to the effect on our revenues.

 
Revenue from our contract with UBS may substantially vary between periods because it depends on the levels of service UBS determines we have provided

      Revenue that we derive from our UBS relationship depends upon the level of services we perform, which may vary from period to period depending on UBS’s requirements. In addition, the agreement with UBS that covers most of our business with UBS entitles us to recover our costs plus an annual fixed fee, with a bonus or penalty that can cause this annual fee to vary up or down by as much as 13%, depending on our level of performance as determined by UBS. Determination of whether our performance merits a bonus or a penalty depends on many objective and subjective factors, including service quality, product delivery, customer

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satisfaction, cost effectiveness, and corporate level support. To the extent that UBS determines to diminish our annual fee in any given year, our profitability will be adversely affected.
 
We may bear the risk of cost overruns under custom software development contracts, and, as a result, cost overruns could adversely affect our profitability

      We develop custom software applications for some of our customers. The effort and cost associated with the completion of a software development project is difficult to estimate and, in some cases, may significantly exceed the estimate made at the time we begin the project. We provide most of our software development projects under level-of-effort contracts, usually based on time and materials or direct costs plus a fee. Under those arrangements, we are able to bill our customer based on the actual cost of completing the software development project, even if the ultimate cost of the project exceeds our initial estimates. However, if the ultimate cost exceeds our initial estimate by a significant amount, we may have difficulty collecting the full amount that we are due under the contract, depending upon many factors, including the reasons for the increase in cost, our communication with the customer throughout the project and the customer’s satisfaction with the developed software. As a result, we could incur losses with respect to software development projects even when they are priced on a level-of-effort basis. For example, during the three months ended June 30, 2003, we exited an under-performing contract that included a software development project in which the actual development costs were expected to exceed the estimated costs as stated in the contract. While the contract provided for us to collect most of the excess of the actual cost over the estimate in the contract, we expected to incur a loss on the software development project beginning in 2002. In the first quarter of 2003, we recorded approximately $19.5 million of expense related to the excess of the actual cost over the estimate in the contract (approximately $12.1 million, net of the applicable income tax benefit), which was included in the cumulative effect of change in accounting principle relating to our adoption of EITF 00-21. In the second quarter of 2003, we and our client were unable to reach agreement on the timing and form of payment for the excess, and we recorded an additional $17.7 million of expense in direct cost of services related to this software development project. If we provide a software development project under a fixed-price contract, we bear all the risk that the ultimate cost of the project will exceed the price to be charged to the customer.

 
Our five largest customers account for a substantial portion of our revenue and profits and loss of any of these customers could result in decreased revenues and profits

      Our five largest customers accounted for approximately 41.2% of our revenue for 2003 and approximately 46.4% of our revenue in 2002. UBS was the only customer that accounted for more than 10% of our revenue for 2003 and 2002. After UBS our next four largest customers accounted for approximately 24.6% of our revenue in 2003 and 27.7% of our revenue in 2002. Our primary relationship with each of our five largest customers consists of a long-term outsource revenue contract with a term extending at least through 2006. Our success depends substantially upon the retention of UBS and a majority of our other major customers as ongoing customers. If we were to lose one of these major customers, our revenues would generally be materially decreased and our profits would be less. Generally, we may lose a customer as a result of a merger or acquisition, contract expiration, the selection of another provider of information technology services, business failure or bankruptcy, or our performance. These contracts typically require us to maintain specified performance levels with respect to the services that we deliver to our customer, with the result that if we fail to perform at the specified levels, we may be required to pay or credit the customer with amounts specified in the contract. In the event of significant failures to deliver the services at the specified levels, a number of these contracts provide that the customer has the right to terminate the agreement. In addition, some of these contracts provide the customer the right to terminate the contract at the customer’s convenience. The customer’s right to terminate for convenience typically requires the customer to pay us fees to cover costs that we have incurred but not recovered and an amount that results in the recovery of a portion of profit we had expected to earn over the term of the contract. We may not retain long-term relationships or secure renewals of short-term relationships with our major customers in the future.

      We are currently evaluating ways that we can provide our second largest customer with increased cost efficiencies. As part of this process, we are evaluating potential increases and decreases to the scope of services

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we provide, ways to reduce costs, and may look to restructure payment terms. Although we cannot currently predict the impact of any change in our relationship, the actions we are contemplating could lead to reduced near-term cash flow and earnings, with some or all of this potentially being recovered in future years.
 
If entities we acquire fail to perform in accordance with our expectations or if their liabilities exceed our expectations, our profits per share could be diminished and our financial results could be adversely affected

      In connection with any acquisition we make, there may be liabilities that we fail to discover or that we inadequately assess. To the extent that the acquired entity failed to fulfill any of its contractual obligations, we may be financially responsible for these failures or otherwise be adversely affected. In addition, acquired entities may not perform according to the forecasts that we used to determine the price paid for the acquisition. If the acquired entity fails to achieve these forecasts, our financial condition and operating results may be adversely affected.

 
Our software development products may cost more than we initially project, encounter delays, or fail to perform well in the market, which could decrease our profits

      Our business has risks associated with the development of software products. There is the risk that capitalized costs of development may not be fully recovered if the market for our products or the ability of our products to capture a portion of the market differs materially from our estimates. In addition, there is the risk that the cost of product development differs materially from our estimates or a delay in product introduction may reduce the portion of the market captured by our product.

 
If we are unable to successfully integrate acquired entities, our profits may be less and our operations more costly or less efficient

      We have completed several acquisitions in recent years and we will continue to analyze and consider potential acquisition candidates. Acquisitions involve significant risks, including the following:

  •  companies we acquire may have a lower quality of internal controls and reporting standards, which could cause us to incur expenses to increase the effectiveness and quality of the acquired company’s internal controls and reporting standards;
 
  •  we may have difficulty integrating the systems and operations of acquired businesses, which may increase anticipated expenses relating to integrating our business with the acquired company’s business and delay or reduce full benefits that we anticipate from the acquisition;
 
  •  integration of an acquired business may divert our attention from normal daily operations of the business, which may adversely affect our management, financial condition, and profits; and
 
  •  we may not be able to retain key employees of the acquired business, which may delay or reduce the full benefits that we anticipate from the acquisition and increase costs anticipated to integrate and manage the acquired company.

 
Our contracts generally contain provisions that could allow customers to terminate the contracts, decreasing our revenue and profits and potentially damaging our business reputation

      Our contracts with customers generally permit termination in the event our performance is not consistent with service levels specified in those contracts. The ability of our customers to terminate contracts creates an uncertain revenue and profit stream. If customers are not satisfied with our level of performance, our reputation in the industry may suffer, which may also adversely affect our ability to market our services to other customers.

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Some contracts contain fixed-price provisions or penalties that could result in decreased profits

      Some of our contracts contain pricing provisions that require the payment of a set fee by the customer for our services regardless of the costs we incur in performing these services, or provide for penalties in the event we fail to achieve certain contract standards. In such situations, we are exposed to the risk that we will incur significant unforeseen costs or such penalties in performing the contract.

 
Fluctuations in currency exchange rates may adversely affect the profitability of our foreign operations

      Fluctuations in currency exchange rates may adversely affect the profitability of our foreign operations. For instance, with respect to most of our Indian operations, our customers pay us in their local currency (typically Euros or U.S. Dollars), but our costs are primarily incurred in Indian Rupees. Therefore, if the Rupee increases in strength against these local currencies, our profits from our Indian operations would be adversely affected. To attempt to mitigate the effects of foreign currency fluctuations, we sometimes use forward exchange contracts and other hedging techniques. However, we do not currently have such hedges in place with respect to most of our contracts that are being performed in India.

 
Our international operations expose our assets to increased risks and could result in business loss or in more expensive or less efficient operations

      We have operations in many countries around the world. In addition to the risks related to fluctuations in currency exchange rates discussed in the immediately preceding risk factor and the additional risk associated with doing business in India discussed in the immediately following risk factor, risks that affect these international operations include:

  •  complicated licensing and work permit requirements may hinder our ability to operate in some jurisdictions;
 
  •  our intellectual property rights may not be well protected in some jurisdictions;
 
  •  our operations may be vulnerable to terrorist actions or harmed by government responses;
 
  •  governments may restrict our ability to convert currencies; and
 
  •  additional expenses and risks inherent in conducting operations in geographically distant locations, with customers speaking different languages and having different cultural approaches to the conduct of business.

 
We have a significant business presence in India, and risks associated with doing business there could decrease our revenue and profits

      In December 2003, we, through a wholly owned subsidiary, completed the acquisition from HCL Technologies Limited, a corporation formed in India, of all of their interest in HCL Perot Systems B.V., a joint venture entity formed by us and HCL in 1996, for approximately $99.4 million (including acquisition costs and net of $12.1 million of cash acquired). Subsequently, we changed the name to Perot Systems TSI B.V. In addition to the risks regarding fluctuations in currency exchange rates and regarding international operations discussed in the two immediately preceding risk factors, the following risks associated with doing business in India could decrease our revenue and profits:

  •  governments could enact legislation that restricts the provision of services from offshore locations;
 
  •  difficulty in staffing and managing operations in India;
 
  •  difficulties in collecting accounts receivable;
 
  •  developments between the nations of India and Pakistan regarding the threat of war;

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  •  potential wage increases in India which could prevent us from maintaining our competitive advantage; and
 
  •  cost increases if the Government of India reduces or withholds tax benefits and other incentives provided to us.

 
Our government contracts contain early termination and reimbursement provisions that may adversely affect our revenue and profits

      Perot Systems Government Services provides services as a contractor and subcontractor on various projects with U.S. government entities. Despite the fact that a number of government projects for which we serve as a contractor or subcontractor are planned as multi-year projects, the U.S. government normally funds these projects on an annual or more frequent basis. Generally, the government has the right to change the scope of, or terminate, these projects at its convenience. The termination or a major reduction in the scope of a major government project could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

      U.S. government entities audit our contract costs, including allocated indirect costs, or conduct inquiries and investigations of our business practices with respect to our government contracts. If the government finds that we improperly charged any costs to a contract, the costs are not reimbursable or, if already reimbursed, the cost must be refunded to the government. If the government discovers improper or illegal activities in the course of audits or investigations, the contractor may be subject to various civil and criminal penalties and administrative sanctions, which may include termination of contracts, forfeiture of profits, suspension of payments, fines and suspensions or debarment from doing business with the U.S. government. These government remedies could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

 
If customers reduce spending that is currently above contractual minimums, our revenues and profits could diminish

      Some of our outsourcing customers request services in excess of the minimum level of services required by the contract. These services are often in the form of project work and are discretionary to our customers. Our customers’ ability to continue discretionary project spending may depend on a number of factors including, but not limited to, their financial condition, and industry and strategic direction. Spending above contractual minimums by customers could end with limited notice and result in lower revenue and earnings.

 
If we fail to compete successfully in the highly competitive markets in which we operate, our business, financial condition, and results of operations will be materially and adversely affected

      As described in more detail in the bullet points below, we operate in extremely competitive markets, and the technology required to meet our customers’ needs changes. In all of our segments we frequently compete with companies that have greater financial resources; more technical, sales, and marketing capacity; and larger customer bases than we do. Because many of the factors on which we compete, as discussed below, are outside of our control, we cannot be sure that we will be successful in the markets in which we compete. If we fail to compete successfully against our competitors, our business, financial condition, and results of operations will be materially and adversely affected.

  •  IT Solutions. Our IT Solutions segment competes with a number of different information technology service providers depending upon the region, country, and/or market we are addressing. Some of our more frequent competitors include: Accenture Ltd., Affiliated Computer Services, Inc., Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, CGI Group, Inc., Computer Sciences Corporation, Electronic Data Systems Corporation, Hewlett Packard Company, IBM Global Services (a division of International Business Machines Corporation), McKesson Corporation, and Siemens Business Services, Inc. As we enter new markets, we expect to encounter additional competitors. Our IT Solutions segment competes on the basis of a number of factors, including the attractiveness and breadth of the business strategy and services that we offer, pricing, technological innovation, quality of service, ability to invest in or acquire assets of potential customers and our scale in certain industries. In addition, we frequently compete

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  with our customers’ own internal information technology capability, which may constitute a fixed cost for our customer. This may increase pricing pressure on us.
 
  •  Government Services. Our Government Services segment competes with a number of different information technology service providers depending upon the federal agency or department as well as the market we are addressing. Some of our more frequent competitors include: Accenture Ltd., Affiliated Computer Services, Inc., Anteon International Corporation, BearingPoint, Inc., Booz-Allen and Hamilton, CACI International, Inc., Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, Computer Sciences Corporation, Electronic Data Systems Corporation, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin Corporation, Northrop Grumman Corporation, Science Applications International Corporation, SRA International, and Unisys Corporation. We compete on the basis of a number of factors, including the attractiveness and breadth of the business strategy and professional services that we offer, pricing, technological innovation and quality of service. We must frequently compete in federal and defense programs with declining budgets, which creates pressure to lower our prices.
 
  •  Consulting. Our Consulting segment competes with a number of different consulting practices including large consulting firms such as Accenture Ltd., BearingPoint, Inc., Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation, Computer Sciences Corporation, and Wipro Limited; smaller consulting firms with industry expertise in areas such as healthcare or financial services, and the consulting divisions of large systems integrators and information technology service providers. We compete on many factors, including price, industry expertise, our process methodologies and intellectual property, and our past successes in executing assignments. The market for consulting services is affected by an oversupply of consulting talent, both domestically and offshore, which results in downward price pressure for our services. Emerging offshore development capacity in countries such as India and China is also increasing the degree of competition for our consulting services generally and for our software development services in particular.

 
Increasingly complex regulatory environments may increase our costs

      Our customers are subject to complex and constantly changing regulatory environments. These regulatory environments change and in ways that cannot be predicted. For example, our financial services clients are subject to domestic and foreign privacy and electronic record handling rules and regulations, and our clients in the health care industry have been made subject to increasingly complex and pervasive privacy laws and regulations. These regulations may increase our potential liabilities if our services contribute to a failure by our clients to comply with the regulatory regime and may increase the cost to comply as regulatory requirements increase or change.

 
Our quarterly operating results may vary

      We expect our revenue and operating results to vary from quarter to quarter. Such variations are likely to be caused by many factors that are, to some extent, outside our control, including:

  •  mix and timing of customer projects;
 
  •  completing customer projects;
 
  •  hiring, integrating, and utilizing associates;
 
  •  timing of new contracts;
 
  •  issuance of common shares and options to associates; and
 
  •  costs to exit certain activities.

      Accordingly, we believe that quarter-to-quarter comparisons of operating results for preceding quarters are not necessarily meaningful. You should not rely on the results of one quarter as an indication of our future performance.

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Loss of key personnel could adversely affect our ability to attract and retain business

      Our success depends in part on the skills, experience, and performance of some key members of our management, including our Chairman, Ross Perot, and our President and Chief Executive Officer, Ross Perot, Jr. The loss of any key member of our management may materially and adversely affect our ability to attract or retain business with the effect of adversely affecting our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

 
Changes in technology could adversely affect our competitiveness, revenue, and profit

      The markets for our information technology services change rapidly because of technological innovation, new product introductions, changes in customer requirements, declining prices, and evolving industry standards, among other factors. New products and new technology often render existing information services or technology infrastructure obsolete, excessively costly, or otherwise unmarketable. As a result, our success depends on our ability to timely innovate and integrate new technologies into our service offerings. We cannot guarantee that we will be successful at adopting and integrating new technologies into our service offerings in a timely manner.

 
Ross Perot has substantial control over any major corporate action

      Ross Perot, our Chairman, is the managing general partner of HWGA, Ltd., a partnership that owned 31,705,000 shares of our Class A common stock as of December 31, 2003. Mr. Perot also beneficially owns 54,100 shares of our Class A common stock. Accordingly, Mr. Perot, primarily through HWGA, Ltd., controls approximately 28% of our outstanding voting common stock. As a result, Mr. Perot, through HWGA, Ltd., effectively has the power to block corporate actions such as an amendment to our Certificate of Incorporation, a change of control or the sale of all or substantially all of our assets. In addition, Mr. Perot may significantly influence the election of directors and any other action requiring stockholder approval. The other general partner of HWGA, Ltd. is Ross Perot, Jr., our President and Chief Executive Officer, who has the authority to manage the partnership and direct the voting or sale of the shares of our Class A common stock held by HWGA, Ltd. if Mr. Perot is no longer the managing general partner.

 
We could lose rights to our company name, which may adversely affect our ability to market our services

      We do not own the right to our company name. In 1988, we entered into a license agreement with Ross Perot, our Chairman, and the Perot Systems Family Corporation that allows us to use the name “Perot” and “Perot Systems” in our business on a royalty-free basis. Mr. Perot and the Perot Systems Family Corporation may terminate this agreement at any time and for any reason. Beginning one year following such a termination, we would not be allowed to use the names “Perot” or “Perot Systems” in our business. Mr. Perot’s or the Perot Systems Family Corporation’s termination of our license agreement could materially and adversely affect our ability to attract and retain customers, which could have a material adverse affect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

 
Failure to recruit, train, and retain technically skilled personnel could increase costs or limit growth

      We must continue to hire and train technically skilled people in order to perform services under our existing contracts and new contracts into which we will enter. The people capable of filling these positions have historically been in great demand, and recruiting and training such personnel requires substantial resources. We may be required to pay an increasing amount to hire and retain a technically skilled workforce. In addition, during periods in which demand for technically skilled resources is great, our business may experience significant turnover. These factors could create variations and uncertainties in our compensation expense and efficiencies that could directly affect our profits. If we fail to recruit, train, and retain sufficient numbers of these technically skilled people, our business, financial condition, and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

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Alleged or actual infringement of intellectual property rights could result in substantial additional costs

      Our suppliers, customers, competitors and others may have or obtain patents and other proprietary rights that cover technology we employ. We are not, and cannot be, aware of all patents or other intellectual property rights of which our services may pose a risk of infringement. Others asserting rights against us could force us to defend ourselves or our customers against alleged infringement of intellectual property rights. We could incur substantial costs to prosecute or defend any intellectual property litigation and we could be forced to do one or more of the following:

  •  cease selling or using products or services that incorporate the disputed technology;
 
  •  obtain from the holder of the infringed intellectual property right a license to sell or use the relevant technology; or
 
  •  redesign those services or products that incorporate such technology.

 
Provisions of our certificate of incorporation, bylaws, stockholders’ rights plan and Delaware law could deter takeover attempts

      Our Board of Directors may issue up to 5,000,000 shares of preferred stock and may determine the price, rights, preferences, privileges, and restrictions, including voting and conversion rights, of these shares of preferred stock without any further vote or action by our stockholders. The rights of the holders of common stock will be subject to, and may be adversely affected by, the rights of the holders of any preferred stock that may be issued in the future. The issuance of preferred stock may make it more difficult for a third party to acquire a majority of our outstanding voting stock.

      In addition, we have adopted a stockholders’ rights plan. Under this plan, after the occurrence of specified events that may result in a change of control, our stockholders will be able to buy stock from us or our successor at half the then current market price. These rights will not extend, however, to persons participating in takeover attempts without the consent of our Board of Directors or that our Board of Directors determines to be adverse to the interests of the stockholders. Accordingly, this plan could deter takeover attempts.

      Some provisions of our Certificate of Incorporation and Bylaws and of Delaware General Corporation Law could also delay, prevent, or make more difficult a merger, tender offer, or proxy contest involving our company. Among other things, these provisions:

  •  require a 66 2/3% vote of the stockholders to amend our Certificate of Incorporation or approve any merger or sale, lease, or exchange of all or substantially all of our property and assets;
 
  •  require an 80% vote for stockholders to amend our Bylaws;
 
  •  require advance notice for stockholder proposals and director nominations to be considered at a vote of a meeting of stockholders;
 
  •  permit only our Chairman, President, or a majority of our Board of Directors to call stockholder meetings, unless our Board of Directors otherwise approves;
 
  •  prohibit actions by stockholders without a meeting, unless our Board of Directors otherwise approves; and
 
  •  limit transactions between our company and persons that acquire significant amounts of stock without approval of our Board of Directors.

Our Website and Availability of SEC Reports

      Our corporate website is located at www.perotsystems.com. We make copies of our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission available to investors on our website without charge as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file them with the SEC. Our SEC filings can be reached from the Investor Relations page of our website or directly at http://www.perotsystems.com/investors/viewsec.htm

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Item 2. Properties

      As of December 31, 2003, we had offices in approximately 90 locations in the United States and seven countries outside the United States. Our office space and other facilities cover approximately 2,200,000 square feet. The majority of our buildings are leased, including a lease with a variable interest entity for our corporate headquarters located in Plano, Texas, which includes office space and our data center operations. As discussed below in “Accounting Standards Issued,” in January 2003, the Financial Accounting Standards Board issued FASB Interpretation No. 46, “Consolidation of Variable Interest Entities.” Upon adoption of FIN 46 on December 31, 2003, we consolidated the variable interest entity, which resulted in us recording the land and buildings of our Plano facility, as well as the related long-term debt, on our consolidated balance sheets. Our leases have expiration dates ranging from 2004 to 2013. Upon expiration of our leases, we do not anticipate any significant difficulty in obtaining renewals or alternative space.

      In addition to these properties, we also occupy office space at customer locations throughout the world. We generally occupy this space under the terms of the agreement with the particular customer. We believe that our current facilities are suitable and adequate for our business.

      We have commitments related to data processing facilities, office space, and computer equipment under non-cancelable operating leases and fixed maintenance agreements for remaining periods ranging from one to twelve years. We have disclosed future minimum commitments under these agreements as of December 31, 2003, in “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and in Note 14, “Commitments and Contingencies,” to the Consolidated Financial Statements which are included elsewhere in this report.

 
Item 3. Legal Proceedings

      We are, from time to time, involved in various litigation matters arising in the ordinary course of our business. We believe that the outcome of these litigation matters, either individually or taken as a whole, will not have a material adverse effect on our consolidated financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

     IPO Allocation Securities Litigation

      In July and August 2001, we, as well as some of our current and former officers and the investment banks that underwrote our initial public offering, were named as defendants in two purported class action lawsuits. These lawsuits, Seth Abrams v. Perot Systems Corp. et al. and Adrian Chin v. Perot Systems, Inc. et al., were filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. The suits allege violations of Rule 10b-5, promulgated under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and Sections 11, 12(a)(2) and 15 of the Securities Act of 1933. Approximately 300 issuers and 40 investment banks have been sued in similar cases. The suits against the issuers and underwriters have been consolidated for pretrial purposes in the IPO Allocation Securities Litigation. The lawsuit involving us focuses on alleged improper practices by the investment banks in connection with our initial public offering in February 1999. The plaintiffs allege that the investment banks, in exchange for allocating public offering shares to their customers, received undisclosed commissions from their customers on the purchase of securities and required their customers to purchase additional shares in aftermarket trading. The lawsuit also alleges that we should have disclosed in our public offering prospectus the alleged practices of the investment banks, whether or not we were aware that the practices were occurring. We believe the claims against us are without merit, and we will vigorously defend ourselves in this case.

      During 2002, the current and former officers and directors of Perot Systems Corporation that were individually named in the lawsuits referred to above were dismissed from the cases. In exchange for the dismissal, the individual defendants entered agreements with the plaintiffs that toll the running of the statute of limitations and permit the plaintiffs to refile claims against them in the future. In February 2003, in response to the defendant’s motion to dismiss, the court dismissed the plaintiffs’ Rule 10b-5 claims against us, but did not dismiss the remaining claims.

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      We have accepted a settlement proposal presented to all issuer defendants. Pursuant to the proposed settlement, plaintiffs would dismiss and release all claims against us and our current and former officers and directors, in exchange for an assurance by the insurance companies collectively responsible for insuring the issuers in all of the IPO cases that the plaintiffs will achieve a minimum recovery (including amounts recovered from the underwriters), and for the assignment or surrender of certain claims we may have against the underwriters. We would not be required to make any cash payment with respect to the settlement. The proposed settlement requires approval of an unspecified percentage of issuers. The proposed settlement would also require court approval, which cannot be assured. In the event that the settlement is not completed, we will continue to vigorously defend ourselves in this case.

     Litigation Relating to the California Energy Market

      In June 2002, we were named as a defendant in a purported class action lawsuit that alleges that we conspired with energy traders to manipulate the California energy market. This lawsuit, Art Madrid v. Perot Systems Corporation et al., was filed in the Superior Court of California, County of San Diego. The case is currently pending in the Superior Court for the County of Sacramento. In September 2003, we filed a demurrer