Pearson Government Solutions Inc. won a prime contract potentially worth $52 million from the University of California to provide services that will support its centralized admissions and scholarships applications system, the company said today. The contract consists of a five-year base period valued at $20 million, and eight one-year options.

Pearson Government Solutions of Arlington, Va., will design, build and operate a system to process undergraduate applications for admission and scholarships for the University of California’s nine general undergraduate campuses. The company’s services will include Web software applications, database management, systems development, project management, data entry, printing, mailing, data analysis, receiving and processing undergraduate admission application fees and handling call center inquiries.

This technology will save the university more than $2.8 million per year, the company said. More than 103,000 students apply to one or more of the University of California’s campuses each year, with about 95 percent submitting their applications online.

Pearson Government Solutions designs, builds and operates IT systems for clients in the public and private sectors. It employs more than 5,000 workers in several offices worldwide. The privately owned company is No. 38 on Washington Technology’s 2005 Top 100 list of federal prime contractors, ranked according to their IT revenue.